Not the Michelin two star French restaurant
in the Kentish High Weald, nor the West Coast
jazz saxophonist who sessioned with Brubeck,
but the British woodland wild flower, or weed.
There are two definitions of ‘weed’ –
the official: a wild plant growing
where it is not wanted; and mine: a plant
whose existence is not dependent,
in any way, on the whim of humankind.
Herb Robert – aka Red Robin –
is a wild and elegant geranium,
with dark green leaves, reddish stems and pink flowers,
that grows at the edge of paths, and in the gaps
between paving stones. In wiser times
it was an antiseptic, and a stomach
settler, a charm to baffle evil,
and bring forth birth – named, some say, for a monk
who made a curative tea from its leaves;
others for Robin Goodfellow or Puck,
the jokey house goblin of English folklore,
as featured in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
‘And those things do best please me
That befall prepost’trously.’
By David Selzer