Canvas of Soil

Read the poem in your book on page 87. First, three painting words:

• a palette is the board a painter mixes colours on;
• a hue is a shade of a colour;
• a canvas is what a painter paints on (here, the book says, the painting itself).

The big comparison. A painter stands before a blank canvas with colours; a gardener stands before a patch of soil with seeds. Both are artists: one paints with colours, the other with seeds.

Stanza 1 (Earth and Possibilities): the earth is a rich palette where the gardeners' dreams seep in, like water soaking into soil; seeds, planted like brushstrokes, wait for spring's bright colours.

Stanza 2 (Nature's Work of Art): flowers bloom like a painted picture, dancing in the morning light, in shades of green, red and blue: nature's artwork, ever new. A painting stays the same; a garden is new every time you look.

Stanza 3 (Gardens as Living Canvases): each plot is a wide canvas where art and life coincide: a painting has art; a garden has art and life. In the hands of those who dig and plant, gardens become calm, beautiful, timeless paintings.