A Tarentine Garden

by Virgil — a poem card from Justes Mots

Virgil celebrates a Tarentine garden tended by an old Cilician refugee who transforms barren wasteland into botanical abundance through patient skill and love of the land. The poet documents the gardener's mastery—coaxing early roses, rare fruit, and perfect plantings—before noting that after two thousand years, nature has reclaimed the space. The poem honors human creativity's triumph over circumstance and nature's patient reclamation.

My helm points landwards; and yet would I fain
Re-commission my Muse, and sail again.
The breezes, as I coast by Pæstum, bring
Its twice-blowing rosebeds’ scent; I would sing,
But for emulous themes, how to inlay
A garden’s borders with a rich array
Of rainbow-hued gems that a loving care
Joys to persuade them in due course to wear.…

Themes: birthday · friendship · encouragement · reflection