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Marigolds

by Robert Graves, 1918

With a fork drive Nature out,
  She will ever yet return;
Hedge the flowerbed all about,
  Pull or stab or cut or burn,
  She will ever yet return.

Look: the constant marigold
  Springs again from hidden roots.
Baffled gardener, you behold
  New beginnings and new shoots
  Spring again from hidden roots.
  Pull or stab or cut or burn,
  They will ever yet return.

Gardener, cursing at the weed,
  Ere you curse it further, say:
Who but you planted the seed
  In my fertile heart, one day?
  Ere you curse me further, say!
  New beginnings and new shoots
  Spring again from hidden roots.
  Pull or stab or cut or burn,
  Love must ever yet return.

Published in Fairies and Fusiliers
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