And Pretty Maids...

I've thankfully arrived at the last verse in the English nursery rhyme.  This should free me up a bit to frame my future writings according to some other rubric...perhaps. After all, this is a blog about a transformative journey, not about a nursery rhyme. But there is much to learn about such journeys through rhymes. Or rather, there's a wisdom in them that is worth thinking about. And thus we come to the final verse. What can it teach? I shall cover the first part here and will complete the verse in the next blog.

Mary Mary quite contrary,

how does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells...

Most of us know the version that says she had pretty maids (all in a row). But it seems that Mary's garden changed a lot.

According other versions, she had cowslips (all in a row). I am intrigued with this one. Cowslips, also known as the Venus herb, is a popular flower in the British Isles known for its magical and medicinal uses. Think of Botticelli 's The Birth of Venus and you'll note that she emerged from the sea having been born from a cockle shell. So it follows that if you have cockle shells in the garden, certainly the Venus herb should be there, as well. As you all should know, Venus is the Goddess of Love and what better place to include love than in the garden.

Another verse has her having ladybells (all in a row). A beautiful flower, a hardy perennial... I'm thinking this might look good in my front garden. Except there is a discussion board dedicated to warning you never to plant this one. They call it a thug (for it's ability to takeover a garden and overcome your other plants.) But remember that Mary was contrary and I may be as well.

As many other authors have noted, there are many other endings to this nursery rhyme (columbines, cuckolds, and muscles all in a row) and it isn't clear which is the original. Given the nature of nursery rhymes, it shouldn't matter -- that is, whether or not these verses were composed for the entertainment or education of children or for adults as political satire or joviality, they have been continually shaped and reshaped to fit their purpose.

Case in point: a series of advertisements that appeared in British newspapers, magazines, and billboards to discuss climate change (which, by the way, were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority as being misleading - go figure) .

Well, maybe the endings weren't poetic in the sense of rhyming, but the point is made. Nursery rhymes have been used for centuries as the times dictated.

And so I shall similarly use it for my purposes. I'm using Mary's garden verse: to announce and reclaim a certain freedom (a commitment on my part to make life choices that promotes growth); to chronicle my exploration of the urban garden movement (for my own family's sustainability and for raising awareness of food instability and the environmental crisis); to affirm my spirituality and faith as it guides me on my transformative journey; to reflect on my family--my forebears, relatives, and immediate family, and how they are an important source of moral and material support; to begin (as my next entry will introduce) a process of community organizing; and to do all of this as a labor of deep love --for life, for God, for family, for humanity.