The Garland: ‘Not by their size’
William Arthur Dunkerley was a prolific writer who published poems, hymns, and novels under the name John Oxenham. “The Philosopher’s Garden” was a poem early placed on my memory list. Like another poem I recently shared, I first encountered Oxenham’s poem in the garden anthology Up From the Earth. It was originally published in the volume Bees in Amber (1913), in which Oxenham poetically fossilized the proverbial bees in his bonnet.
Earlier this week I shared a poem that reminds me of my father; this poem reminds me of my mother. As a homemaker and the teacher of our home-school, she has been wrongly contemned by others. Her sphere of influence, though powerful and beautiful, would seem a very small plot of earth—a Little garden. But the wise Philosopher of the poem reminds his friend, and readers, to look vertically for the true magnitude of a work.
Mark out Mama’s life in linear inches if you like; but there aren’t enough of them in the world to tell how high her work reaches. “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”
°The Garland is my personal anthology of poems. I have been transcribing these by hand in a leather journal, but also wanted to use my blog to share the poems and my thoughts.
The Philosopher’s Garden
John Oxenham
‘See this is my garden,
Large and fair!’
—Thus, to the friend,
The Philosopher.
‘ ‘Tis not too long,’
His friend replied,
Wit truth exact,—
‘Nor yet too wide.
But well compact,
If somewhat cramped
On every side.’
Quick the reply—
‘But see how high!—
It reaches up
To God’s blue sky!’
Not by their size
Measure we men
Or things.
Wisdom, with eyes
Washed in the fire,
Seeketh the things
That are higher—
Things that have wings,
Thoughts that aspire.
Painting: A Pensive Moment. Daniel Ridgeway Knight.
Friday, April 6, 2012