XLVIII
My garden is pesticide free
And nature has a free hand,
So she gathers together her outcasts
In a merry marauding band.
Slugs and snails all visit
With unfailing regularity -
They breakfast on my hostas -
Have salad for their tea.
Carrot and onion flies
Are all invited too -
The Almighty must have made them
When he'd nothing else to do.
Greenfly, blackfly, whitefly
Are all on the guest list,
They're regular attenders
No party's ever missed.
Caterpillars eat the cabbages,
But when they're butterflies,
They treat us to aerial ballets
Across our summer skies.
The evening visitors are
Mosquito, midge and mite
Who zoom in for their dinner
In the fading evening light.
Nature is a lavish hostess
But I really do wish
That some of her guests could feature
In the main course dish.
June 1990
