Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ever wonder what the purpose of those 'pretty maids all in a row' might be?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary 

How does your garden grow? 

With silver bells and cockleshells 

And pretty maids all in a row.

-- By Mother Goose

Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Cobblestone paths ‘tween bowered vines…

Scents of jasmine and hyacinths…

Fragrant blooms of rose that climbs,

Creating those fairytale depths.

Birdsong lilting… just to entrance

‘Pon wing-ed flights of fancy trill.

Colorful feathered fairy dance

Drawing us to share the idyll. 

Mary, Mary, timid belle,

Delicately tends this garden

Of silver bells and cockle shell…

‘Pon shadowed paths inviting us down…

Beckoning now, she calls to you

To share her shadowed fears with her

That she might not walk alone through.

Join her there, against fear aver.

Many a pretty maid walks there

To bear her company awhile.

They step into her garden fair

And revel through each aisle.

Those pretty maids, all in a row,

Tramp into the garden smiling.

They dance and frolic, safe they trow,

In th’error of their beguiling.

In that garden smiling went well

Pretty maids someone should miss.

But none came out again to tell

The fate of idyllic promise.

Now… Mary, Mary, who can say

The reason for your timid tread,

On those oh so enticing pathways

Through this sylvan fairy flow'rbed?

Mary, Mary, why so wary

Walking your sunlit garden path

Where such flowers lovely tarry

And birds singing sweetly thou hath?

What darkness bides there in that glen?

If innocence is doomed… who’ll know?

Tell me Mary, Mary, what ken…

Tell us… How does your garden grow?

My deepest thanks to David Lewis Paget, Tate Morgan, and Rick Peutter for lending their guidance and tutelage to this composition.

by D. Denise Dianaty

Author's Note

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is so well written, I'm stunned into silence for a moment (it won't last long)! I don't remember this nursery rhyme, but I don't want to relate your poem to a nursery rhyme . . . I want to savor your ongoing intrigue, thru-out, on its own merits. I love how you begin with a provocative question about the maids & your poem doesn't clear this up for me. I am left feeling these maids are a positive force, maybe angels or maybe Mary's own inner life force. Whatever is haunting her out in that flowerbed still remains a mystery & I love it! I love the subtlety of suggesting something & letting the reader's imagination run with it! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks. This one was inspired by the Mother Goose rhyme, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary"

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

[Briana O'Connor]

Love the way you took an old nursery rhyme and dug deep into the meaning of a simple phrase. Very beautiful imagery and thought provoking phrases. well penned.

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks so much. How's the blitz coming?

[Briana O'Connor]

going alright need 8 more sets then the last two lines and the title write themselves. I'll just have to put it all together with each author and what not. Once I catch up on everything I missed while I was sick I'll try and post another set of lines.

[MomzillaNC]

Maybe you could try sending an email to the group members who haven't yet contributed to encourage interest anew in the project.

[MomzillaNC]

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[Michael G.]

Lovely in style and meter.
I had never thought about these Mother Goose poems as having a darker or different side to them. Very entertaining reading. Thanks!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. Actually, many of the old nursery rhymes had darker meanings. "Ring Around the Rosies" is about the Black Plague.

[Michael G.]

That's true, I had totally forgotten. Thanks for refreshing my old memory. (I can claim senior moments, every now and then!)

[MomzillaNC]

I've often wondered about some of the lines in those old rhymes, incongruous lines like "with pretty maids all in a row." Just why is it so dang important to know the muffin man of Drury Lane? Why were those gits in that silly rub-a-dub-tub? An owl and a pussycat on an ocean voyage?

[Michael G.]

- and just who was Humpty? And was it an accident he fell?

[MomzillaNC]

So many questions… so much inspiration!

[Michael G.]

Lol! Go for it! (Back out to do yard work!)

[MomzillaNC]

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[Kat Leila]

Lovely! To awaken an old masterpiece and make it alive with so much imagery! Thank you for sharing!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you.

[Matching Socks]

I love this. It's one of those rhymes that I never really thought much of I guess but I love the old nursery rhymes and fairy tales that have been redone with a twist. :-)
Really great job with this one!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. Y'know, most of those old fairytales have hidden, often quite dark meanings. IDK if the inspiration for this one did; I just always wondered what the heck was the point of the "pretty maids all in a row."

[Matching Socks]

Yes, I have heard that. Like ring around the rosy... And rock a bye baby.
Thanks for the enlightenment. This would make a great series!

[MomzillaNC]

And, "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," according to something I read once, is just plain lewd.
read moreAnd, "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," according to something I read once, is just plain lewd.

I was actually thinking those old nursery rhymes might make a great source of inspiration for a series also!

[Matching Socks]

I don't know the story behind Peter. Write it, please!!

[MomzillaNC]

Umm… I don't write that kind of pointlessly lewd stuff. I will tell you that the piece is said to have been advice to other guys, on satisfying their ladies, concerning something said to taste of raw pumpkin.

[Matching Socks]

Lol!!!!! OMG, thank you for sharing this!

[MomzillaNC]

You're welcome.

[ANM]

There is danger and darkness even in the most beguiling bloom. Very well written and a joy to read.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. I'm pleased you liked it.

[ANM]

You are welcome.

[MomzillaNC]

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[Marie]

I read the other version of this poem... can't say with I like best. I like rhyming poetry myself, but a poem doesn't have to rhyme to tell a story.

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks. I think I've decided on the rhyming version in keeping with the inspiration for the piece. But, I agree, poetry doesn't have to rhyme or even have strictly defined meter to be good. I usually try to find a balance in my meter, but am not averse to writing free-form prose poetry.

[MomzillaNC]

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[Alma W. Reis]

This poem certainly makes me think of the nursery rhymes I heard as a child. All the classical elements are there imaging innocence and all the flowers, scents and the mythical creatures and characters. Because of that I was taken by the twist, when you introduced the tone of bitterness toward the end.

[MomzillaNC]

Well, the point was to pen something rather creepy and macabre for Halloween. Haven't you ever wondered about some of those lines in the nursery rhymes that seem superfluous to the theme of the piece? Many of those old rhymes had a darker, now hidden meaning. Like, "Ring Around the Rosies" is actually about the Black Plague.

[Alma W. Reis]

Oh definitely, but as a child you never notice. I recently read some of the Grimm stories. Their Cinderella story was very disturbing and bloody. The stepmother carves away at her daughters feet so they fit the shoe. But they are written in such a simple "matter-a-fact" manner that you let it by very softly.

[MomzillaNC]

"Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" is just plain lewd.

[Alma W. Reis]

They do show how people and literature has changed. I think one can see what a society is like based on the stories children are read. Now we have some marvelous stories for children, very vivid and moral. Not so sure how exposed they are to them, though.

[MomzillaNC]

Actually, from my own experience with my son, with my nephews and volunteering at school, the kids are more often exposed to these newer tales than Grimm or Mother Goose tales. On of my son's favorites was "The Napping House." Another was "Home for a Bunny"

[Alma W. Reis]

I live in Portugal and kids here don't have a very satisfying experience with literature. It may be changing, but most of them only end up reading the books requested in school, and end up hating the hard work it brings.

[MomzillaNC]

Really? IDK if my son's school is the exception, but kids seem to have really great reading options and most seem completely engaged in reading. My 10-year old son is an avid reader -- reading on an early college level already. But, the kids always seemed so excited by story time when I'd read to his class. And they all wanted to tell me about the books they were reading and how much they love them.

[Alma W. Reis]

That seems perfect! It might be because it is still mostly a rural country. A lot of grandparents and even parents just have 4th grade schooling, so they take no part in helping the kids. They don't get the influence at home, so it becomes hard to get them into reading. Even my experience with books in school was awful. They took all the fun out of it and made it very technical. Although I did learn a lot in terms of language and structure, but I didn't enjoy the stories very much. Some of my colleagues never picked up a book out of school, because it reminded them of more work.

[MomzillaNC]

Actually, I live in a farming community, a very small town with only five or six main drags. But, in the States, it's always been a bit of a tradition for farming folks to read, or listen to readings. My grandparents and my dad were a farmers growing up. After a long day, they'd sit around listening to someone read from the Bible and/or a classic piece of literature. And, even in this small community, we have a public library connected to the wider county system. Nowadays, most folks have e-readers and can download anything from the public library system. Kids here are obsessed with this piece of tech -- I think it might have a lot to do with their love of reading, actually.

[Alma W. Reis]

That is probably the difference, just different traditions. Even though Portuguese literature has some amazing highlights, it isn't hard-rooted in tradition. English Literature on itself is very influential.

[MomzillaNC]

I can see that might make a difference. I believe a tradition could be founded by something as simple as parents volunteering to go to their child's classroom and read to the kids in those early years of school.

[MomzillaNC]

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[Wandervogel]

wow......such a beautiful poem......added to my favourite list....

[MomzillaNC]

Oh, my. Thanks so much. I'm pleased you like it.

[MomzillaNC]

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[Roland Petrov]

You asked an interesting question and came up with a logical, and horrifying, answer. Well done! This is so original. The only slight stumble, in my opinion, is the attempted rhyming of "garden" with "down".

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. Yes, that rhyme, "garden" to "us down," I agree is not as elegant as the rest. But there was just nothing else I could think of that said the same things and still rhymed at all.

[Roland Petrov]

"then"? It doesn't foreshadow like "down", but it may lull the reader and thereby increase the shock value of what Mary is doing.

[MomzillaNC]

Maybe. I'll think about it for a bit. Thank you.

[Louise.xx]

Wow, excellent. Skilfully penned with great imagery. Thank you xx

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks so much.

[MomzillaNC]

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