It’s a comfort to watch my garden grow
– to see the green shoots rising, day by day.
The natural law of reaping what you sow.
On the West Coast, I hear, the forests glow.
The fires erupt from Portland to LA.
It’s a comfort to watch my garden grow.
In China, mountains melt on towns below,
killing all those who linger in the way.
The natural law of reaping what you sow.
Another storm now swirls off Mexico.
Level Five when it hits the USA.
It’s a comfort to watch my garden grow.
The Alps are slowly losing all their snow.
The skiers keep on coming anyway.
The natural law of reaping what you sow.
In Sudan the dusty winds of famine blow.
Third year the crops have failed, they say.
It’s a comfort to watch my garden grow.
The natural law of reaping what you sow.
| Originally nothing more than an exercise in writing a villanelle. But I was interested in seeing if the meaning or significance of the two refrain lines could change according to the context of the stanza. |
Steve Dowson 
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