Re: Aphids and peonies
Thank you, Claire, for such a pleasant change of pace!
Hal Lanktree
> myork@asheboro.com writes:
>
>
> There is a famous poem by Reginald Arkell entitled "Green Fly". It speaks
to
> aphids ruining his roses.
>
> This reply is written by F.E. Priestland:
>
> Now, Mr. Arkell you're a poet,
> It only needs your book to show it,
> And so you must not think me mean,
> But you depict on page nineteen
> A Greenfly (aphid) showing Sex Appeal,
> While from your rose he takes his meal
> And, with a further shock, I read
> Something about a "bridal bed".
> May I submit with all respects,
> You're wrong about the greenfly's sex,
> For through the summer there is none
> Or else it's both rolled into one;
> In fact, in language unpoetic,
> They call it partheno-genetic.
> It's only when the autumn comes,
> That they delevelop "dads' and 'mums'
> And eggs are laid, not living young,
> From which the next year's brood is sprung.
> I grant you license as a poet
> But thought perhaps you'd like to know it.
>
> F.E.Priestland, 1934
>
> The original poem appears in "Green Fingers" by Reginald Arkell. It deals
> with aphids and rose bushes. If anyone would like it, I can type it onto
the
> list.
>
> Claire Peplowski
> East Nassau, NY z4
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