Tune up the pitchfork because it is time to frighten the neighbors and small children with this, my latest carol retooling.
Hard to believe this is No. 5, starting years ago with the first, “A Gardener’s Jingle” set to “Jingle Bells.” Then came the wondrous “Green Garden” sung to “White Christmas.”
I took an inexplicable year off, then started rhyming again with “O Garden Mine,” a not-so-subtle copy of “O Christmas Tree.”
Last year’s “Frost Leaves Your Plants Dead” was inspired by the cool “Frosty the Snowman,” and it left me wondering if I could ever top that.
And how!
With apologies to the unknown Ukrainian (if you can believe the Internet) who wrote the inspiration, the delightful “Carol of the Bells,” here is “Carol of the Worms.”
Happy holidays, all.
Sing of the worm
Soft, squishy worm
Calling all day:
“Throw scraps this way.”
Warm weather here
Sunlight they fear
Winter arrives
Dig deep or die
Casting away
Working all day
Making new dirt
For flower spurts.
Without their toil
Say “goodbye, soil”
And to the trees
For Christmas needs
Robins have found
Worms without sound
’Neath hill and dale
Rare do they fail.
Bring on the spring
How the world sings
For now the roots
Fuel new shoots
Merry, merry, merry, merry castings
Merry, merry, merry, merry castings
More, more they give
Helping us live
May we atone
Keep green our homes
Casting away
Casting away