THE GARDENER by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894)
  Wrote "A CHILD'S GARDEN of VERSES" in 1885
He was also noted for "Treasure Island" "The Body Snatcher's","Kidnapped",  "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.....

 When I was little, my parents gave me an old  copy of  "A Child's garden of Verses". My mother signed my name in the book. My father read out of it. Afer he was gone, my mother read the pages. Years later, in the wee hours of the mornings, my mother fast asleep, I read it on my own, accompanied by peanut butter and jam sandwiches. You can see the evidence of peanut butter on almost every page..............

 THE GARDENER..............
The gardener does not love to talk, he makes me keep the gravel walk....

 And when he puts his tools away;

 He locks the door and takes the key.

 Away behind the currant row, where no one else but cook may go,

 Far in the plots, I see him dig,

 Old and serious, brown and big.

 He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue,

 Nor wishes to be spoken to. He digs the flowers and cuts the hay,

 And never seems to want to play.

 Silly gardener! summer goes,

 And winter comes with pinching toes, When in the garden bare and brown

 You must lay your barrow down.

 Well now, and while the summer stays

 To profit by these garden days

 Oh how much wiser you would be

 To play with me.....

 Photographs 2019
"A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson 1885....