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.

[The Black Warrior]

Wow, this is awesome! Great imagery...love the word choice! Beautifully put together!

I enjoyed it :)

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you.

[MomzillaNC]

I’ve added a spoken word recording to this post

[hardeep sabharwal]

Inspiration from a nursery rhyme, wow,
its really a nice and a little different thing to read, its a fine read here, thanks for writing

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you very much.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

I adore your perfect resonance within the piece well done.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. I owe much of that to David, Tate, and Rick. They were invaluable resources while I was crafting this one.

[MomzillaNC]

I’ve added a spoken word recording to this post

[Malister Mikey]

You did a very good job on this poem, I liked it a lot. great work, but thats to be expected from you.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you so much.

[Sunny]

I love the fact that you used that bit from Mother Goose in your work! my mom used to quote that a lot! :D It's very nice!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. Y'know, I've often wondered about some of those nursery rhymes. Just who is the Muffin Man "who lives in Drury Lane?" Exactly what is Jack about jumping over that candlestick? Precisely under what conditions did Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater place his wife in that pumpkin shell?

[MomzillaNC]

I’ve added a spoken word recording to this post

[Sunny]

That's awesome!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. :D

[NoelHC]

A very interesting inspiration from an old nursery rhyme, well written.
"How does your garden grow?"
Mayhaps fertilized with blood? Mwahahahaha!
I enjoyed it.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. I think there's a macabre twist waiting to be revealed in a lot of those old nursery rhymes.

[NoelHC]

Actually there is a macabre origin to many a nursery rhyme, for example, I have read that "Ring around the Rosie" referred to the bubonic plague or black death!

[MomzillaNC]

I know there are hidden meanings in most of them. For example, I read somewhere that there's an incredibly lewd meaning to "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," regarding something that apparently tastes of raw pumpkin.

[NoelHC]

The format was intended to preserve a story or a tale, and pass it down to the next generation, before access to the printed page was something all could afford. It seems to have worked as we are reciting these things centuries later.

[MomzillaNC]

It definitely worked. I just think we should be more aware of what we're repeating.

[MomzillaNC]

I’ve added a spoken word recording to this post

[Lyn Anderson]

Well done great thought into the rhyme.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you very much.

[MsJewel]

Wow! Your imagery is incredible - the rhyme and flow - perfection. I enjoyed reading this very much!

:) Julie

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. I hope you find the finished version as pleasing. I've just made the edits and reposted the poem.

[Tate Morgan]

I am much more in favor of this version as you know I am so in favor of the rhyming meter.

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks, Tate. I think I prefer it now too. Especially as I've finally finished it. I finally figured out that last stanza and David provided a line at the beginning that improved the flow. Please let me know your opinion of the finished version.