For the dverse prompt.
She thought of the rows of beans and the scent of the bean flowers. She thought of the small window that looked west. “I think we can live there,” she said.
Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin
Lakes and islands, lake isle and burgeoning
bean rows busy with bees. Lake water laps,
and somewhere distant the ocean beats. Pink falls at
dusk, deepening to purple when the last bird falls silent.
Dreams wander this open field where no beans grow
but a vine in four rows between oak and elder.
Hope grows thick as beans with the scent of roses,
and a brook ripples with water clear as any lake.
Here is the place, the last place perhaps, where we will
root, and the last leaves falling will cover us in gold.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
I love where this took you… to a place were to root… the thought of finding such a place is so comforting…
I suppose that’s what we do when we stop moving. The trick is to keep going until you find the right spot.
I like the homage to Yeats, here, and the last stanza is so beautiful.
Thank you. Yeats is a bit like the Bible and Shakespeare. He said everything first.
I felt as if I was there! Well done 🙂
Thank you!
Such a lovely poem, Jane. You’ve described an idyllic location.
Thanks Lisa. I describe what could be. What destroys every bit of nature is the human element. We trash beauty just by being here, making roads through it, killing the wildlife that lives in it, building urban sprawl across it, or turning it into a tourist attraction. It’s depressing and hard to airbrush our presence out of it.
To stretch your words, the halcyon place you describe could be beyond the veil. It is much harder to unearth that place in the Now.
It seems to me that anywhere that ought to be idyllic is marred as soon as human beings appear in the picture. You’re right, it’s only in another world that such peace can exist.
Nice line: “Hope grows thick as beans with the scent of roses”
Thank you, Frank 🙂
Love your words here–they calm me and bring me into place. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you 🙂 If we humans keep out of the picture, there is peace.
Luv the sky turning to purple juxtaposed with the beans taking root
Much✏love
Thank you, Gillena 🙂
“Here is the place, the last place perhaps, where we will
root, and the last leaves falling will cover us in gold.”
That is outstanding.
Thank you, Shawna 🙂
The place you describe sounds lovely, this poem does have a dreamy feel. I think the last place is a place of true peace.
It would be lovely if it wasn’t for the hunters. Anywhere with a bit of wildlife and you’ll find them, popping away with their dogs and cars. I hate them. No true peace while there are killers on the loose.
Lovely alliteration and continuation from the quote. I especially like “Dreams wander this open field where no beans grow”. We always have our dreams.
Thank you Mish. Dreams are essential to existence.
Pretty photo and lovely with the poem, is it a scene from where you live?
Thanks Liz. It’s what I see from my desk looking out across the west meadow.
Great choice of book and quote, Jane. I’d settle for rows of beans busy with bees and the view of the lake. I especially love the lines:
‘Hope grows thick as beans with the scent of roses,
and a brook ripples with water clear as any lake.’
I would too. We’re trying to square the circle, surrounding ourselves in peace and quiet but not being reliant on the car for essentials. Haven’t managed it yet. Town is too far and there’s no public transport.
This is one of my favorite books, about what happens to the heroes when the the journey ends, as all journeys do (a favorite theme of LeGuin).
I think it’s my favourite of all the Earthsea books. I’ve seen it criticised because ‘nothing happens’ in it!!!! There aren’t enough dragons and wizards doing magic. It’s a much more female book with the emphasis on real life.
Very motivating, Jane! May it become true. Michael
A wonderful quotation to use….and a wonderful response. Hope….and a beautiful landscape for hope that you’ve written here. Lovely.
Thank you, Lillian.
I love your words here Jane. There comes a peace when you know you are at last, home.
Thanks Linda. It’s a place to defend. Not entirely peaceful, but if it was, complacency would set in.
Indeed it would.
I thought of Tehanu while I read, naturally enough. And of Earthsea. And of Le Guin and nature and Mary Oliver and finding home.
Mostly, certainly, I thought of your words, how they lead us to where “Hope grows thick” with “last leaves” covering us in gold. As gold leaves can do. What a full way to live at last or even for the last.
It’s all about the endings, isn’t it. Who was it said you shouldn’t look for the place you want to live, but the place where you want to die? Something like that. It ought to be the sum of the whole life, the best part stored up.
Yes, you’re right. The last home. May we each, singly and together, have one for a while, at least for long enough.
Ah, journey’s end where leaves cover you in gold. Peaceful contemplation!
It would be a nice way to go 🙂
Lovely lyric writing kept well-grounded by bean. I think Ursula would have loved this. I miss her.
Thank you. I miss her too.