With Rewilding My Garden

I did not realise how much I had lost interest
in 'keeping up with Jones', I knew the phrase.
But I had forgotten who 'The Jones'' were,
the people who cut their grass, removed the weeds
and tidied their borders for appearance' sake. 

And when one neighbour did invite me in,
partly it was to make me sigh and wince
every time I passed her astroturf that to any uncaring eye 
imitated what should have been grass,
which with its zero maintenance required
gave her more time for her job, her holidays, and watching television.

Not for her the creative life at home, 'get a man in to do the job'
Mrs Jones said, even when she did not know what job he would do.
Paying others to get things done was cheaper, if less engaging,
than planning and doing the work herself. I am sure landscape
gardeners are glad of the work, the Mrs Jones' of the world pay them,
but I seek to celebrate the insect life my garden supports
and the birds that feed, fly, and sing, day after day on their journeys.

In my limited activity, the grass is greener and longer my side of the fence.