This poem for the latest Outlawz Sunday Song and Rhyme is called Dog Days by Amy Lowell.
A ladder sticking up at the open window,
The top of an old ladder;
And all of Summer is there.
Great waves and tufts of wistaria surge across the window,
And a thin, belated blossom
Jerks up and down in the sunlight;
Purple translucence against the blue sky.
“Tie back this branch,” I say,
But my hands are sticky with leaves,
And my nostrils widen to the smell of crushed green.
The ladder moves uneasily at the open window,
And I call to the man beneath,
“Tie back that branch.”
There is a ladder leaning against the window-sill,
And a mutter of thunder in the air.
Amy Lowell was an American poet born in 1874 and died in 1925.
Dogs days, usually refers to the Summer days from early July to early September. The Wisteria plant that is describes also flowers during that time.
I took my inspiration from the line Great waves and tufts of wistaria.
I used a pattern from Stitching cards and used size 12/0 beads in purple and a purple swirl background paper. The number of beads I dropped and lost down the sofa was far too many and some even ended up in the dishwasher!! Once I got the hang of the beads and picked them up with the beading needle rather than my fingers it did become easier, but the odd one still went flying never to be seen again.
The Wisteria reminds me of my grandparents who had it growing across the back of their house. A sneaky look online shows that it is still there even though much of the house is now very different.