Quote of the day, 2 March: Jessica Powers

My heart ran forth on little feet of music
to keep the new commandment.
(O feast and frolic of awakening spring!)
It would beguile the world to be a garden
with seeds of one refrain: My little children,
love one another; so my heart would sing.

But wisdom halted it, out far afield,
asked: did you sow this seed
around your house, or in the neighbor’s garden
or any nearby acreage of need?
No? Then it will not grow in outer places.
Love has its proper soil, its native land;
its first roots fasten on the near-at-hand.

Back toward the house from which I deftly fled,
down neighbors’ lanes, across my father’s barley
my heart brought home its charity. It said:
love is a simple plant like a Creeping Charlie;
once it takes root its talent is to spread.

Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD
(Jessica Powers)

My Heart Ran Forth (1948; 1984)

Note: Sister Miriam makes reference to Creeping Charlie, a type of groundcover plant (or weed, if you prefer), which is found in Sister’s native Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin’s Horticulture Extension service describes Creeping Charlie  (Glechoma hederacea) as an herbaceous perennial plant that spreads by seed and creeping stems (called stolons) that grow along the ground. Creeping Charlie was introduced into North America from Europe by early settlers who thought it would be a good groundcover for shade. A variegated form of the plant is sometimes used in hanging baskets. Creeping Charlie is also known as ground ivy, gill-on-the-ground, and creeping Jenny. In spring, small, bluish-purple, funnel-shaped flowers appear. When the plant is crushed, it produces a strong, mint-like odor.

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ICS Publications, Washington DC.