✦ A Verse-al Herbarium ✦

a spell in seven plants

⋇

Bramble bramble, thorn and crown,

Don’t let the soft be trampled down.

Boundaries aren’t cruelty 〰️ they’re care.

Grow the hedge. Then meet me there.

⟢

Bindweed bindweed, white and sweet,

Not all that climbs you means to keep.

If the love is closing in your throat,

That’s not devotion. Cut the rope.

⚘

Comfrey comfrey, knit and mend,

Don’t bleed yourself to be a friend.

The world will call your plenty free.

Heal the bone. Then heal the me.

※

Yarrow yarrow, press and stay,

Know the moment. Know the way.

Not every wound is yours to close 〰️

But when it is, hold like you chose.

✷

Nettle nettle, sting and green,

Truth is not the same as mean.

She will not bless you, will not feed,

Until you name the thing you need.

◍

Ground elder, root and ache

Some inheritance you don’t get to break.

You only dig. And dig. And then

Call the soil your own again.

✾

Rosemary rosemary, slow and true,

Remembering is not what was done to you.

It’s the sacred coming-back of what stayed,

what held your form when the world unmade.

✦✾✦

This is the garden.

Not innocent. Not tame.

Each weed a warning.

Each herb a name.

Each root a line of code

beneath the flame.

⟁✾⟁

So mote the garden speak.

So mote the soft be sovereign.

So mote the low be gold.

⟐ 🌼 ⟐