The secret to Hollyhocks

The Secret to Hollyhocks

On their honeymoon she stole Crème de Cassis while he held the boat steady

Plucked from neat low vineyards along plush banks of the Loire

Hollyhocks’ crinkled petals danced like hooped vermilion skirts above the river

Plundered by hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.

Holy Mallow’s fruitful seeds

Sealed in Neanderthal graves

Crusaders’ salve for horse hocks

Witches barefoot protection over burning ploughshare blades

Ground roots into wine to stave off blood clots and miscarriages.

Conjure health with brewed hazel buds, wild thyme and marigolds

Bottle demulcent infusions and concoct balm to heal skin

Strip arched stems for blue dye and fragrant firewood.

On their anniversary in a village on the limestone foot of Black Down

 He unwrapped maroon velvet seeds of The Watchman,

Lemon Charter’s Double retrieved among fig trees clinging to a canal

And Black Beauty’s silky trumpets to harbour ambition and fertility

Pregnant, she sowed them secretly at night

Into thin soil of mist-bathed cottage walls

Where cider-swooned owners dreamt oblivious of slow-forging tap roots

Beneath a flutter of Pipistrelles and barn owls

Cats followed in moonlight as she watered lobed leaf blades dusky with dust

Inspected branching petioles star-shaped hairs

Prized beneath notched petals for concealed seed discs

So every swallow-swooped lane would glimmer into life