Hardy Geraniums

When God was a little boy he created Hardy Geraniums
all of them, indoors one wet afternoon,
the paintbox and the template, water clouding
mud in the jar and his tongue-out concentration.

With incredible speed, as if careless,
they fly from his vivid hands, variations:
Mrs Kendall Clarke lovely in butterfly blue
Buxton's variety, flashy Ibericum,
dancing Himalayensis, reliable Lady Moore,
Giant Psilostemon, and Ragged Robin's red breast
for stony ground and waysides.

At arm's length, abstracted, he regards the work,
colour and shape falling from his hand
as petals from the Cherry he'll create
another time, proudly:
'Look at all these I've done.'
He lays them out, thousands, on the world's carpet.

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