Home Unpublished The Garden Maze

The Garden Maze

“Within ten years to a maximum height,”
Said the nursery tag, “trimming is not needed”;
The planting of the maze, the bindings of the light,
In voluntary constraints to this walled art concede,
Irreproducible, not grafted or seeded.

“Needs no trimming,” but buried under corners,
The path is obscured, and density blocks decision;
The barbated branches reach; the thorns resist incision;
Forward, forward, farther and far from reformers,
Over the hedge catch a glimpse of the distant recisioners’
Labyrinth where the future takes no prisoners.

Barbated – (Pronounced BARB-ə-ted) Having barbed points or tufts.

Recisioner – From “recision” meaning pruning, cutting back, or rescinding (not to be confused with “rescission” meaning revocation or annulment).

Takes no prisoners – An idiom meaning “puts to death all captives.”