Shrouded in blue

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

“Reach me a gentian, give me a torch!
let me guide myself with the blue, forked torch of a flower
down the darker and darker stairs, where blue is darkened on blueness,
even where Persephone goes”
D. H. Lawrence ~ Blue Gentians

Steep me deep in Plutonium blue
when into Bluebeard's inky arms I sink
bone dry - not drowning in Poseidon's green
the swell of foam-flecked aquamarine 

Wrap me round a winding cloth of vivid indigo
robed in a cobalt coat and pillowed down
breast of cuddy duck tenderly pressed
with brilliantine sheen of a peacock crest 

Gift me gentians for the grave at Michaelmas
pavonate blooms dispelling Dis and hideous gloom
then blue blue hyacinths for when Persephone lights the stair
and winds of March exhume the sepulchred air

A recent visit to the garden centre and the sight of Gentians invoked Lawrence’s elegiac poem as inspiration for today’s offering in the Poetry Pantry

32 thoughts on “Shrouded in blue”

  2. ‘Wrap me round a winding cloth of livid indigo robed in a cobalt coat and pillowed down breast of cuddy duck tenderly pressed with brilliantine sheen of peacock crest’.. this is soo beautiful!❤️

    1. was an almost accidental rhyme that then determined the others!

  5. Wonderful description and a delight to read. Thanks for sharing.

    1. what a very nice comment Donna – thank you for your appreciation – do you grow Gentians? They are a divine blue for this dying time of year especially and Lawrence’s poem is all the more evocative as he looked at his own imminent death square on

  10. Such lovely shades of blue. I wonder what blue is termed to be sad when it is such a glorious color of the sky, the ocean, and columbines.

    1. All relative I guess – it belongs in a cold palette -a few tones up from the black of deep depression in its darkest aspect –

  12. Is plutonium blue?
    Picasso had a blue period
    casting all his subjects in its mood
    singers sing the blues
    not to wallow in melodrama
    but because they want
    to tell the truth

    I could talk a blue streak.

    1. Plutonium blue is the myth of Persephone personified in Pre-Raphaelite paint and given a Lawrencian send-off!!

    1. yes Mary – following in Lawrence’s footsteps down the Greek mythological route here

  14. So evocative, as always! I’m imagining the scene, the seasons, the people, and the plants. I can almost “see” this as your “painting” with words is very effective.

    1. thank you Beth – to paint with words, to plant with ideas is what I strive for since I am no artist and am without a garden of my own 😉

    1. thank you Jae Rose – your plant has a nice name – there is safety in predictability

Comments are closed.