Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
You'll find the tool and potting sheds which are the heart of all,
The cold frames and the hot houses, the dung pits and the tanks,
The roller, carts and drain pipes, with the barrows and the planks.
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise,
For, except when seeds are planted and we should to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows,
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.
By singing "Oh how beautiful" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives,
At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner knives,
There's not a hand so weak or white, nor yet a heart so sick,
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders,
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!
RUDYARD KIPLING
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