Ode to Dill

An author friend saw a photo I posted re a dill head in my garden and wrote a poem about it.

It inspired me to write again also.  I haven't written anything new in quite some time.

May you be blessed by both of our poems.

The first poem posted here is by Lucinda Berry Hill.

Be sure to check out her facebook page.

Little Dill Hey little dill, Right in the middle, Whose branches reach so high. You look so big From underneath. Like you almost touch the sky. I see your friends On the other end Of the garden that you fill. Brussels sprouts, Broccoli crowns, And onions for the grill. God's sky so blue And distant too But you I get to touch. I can rinse you. I can mince you. And have you in my lunch. Corn will grow. Beans will show. And some will give a thrill. But none quite shine Beneath the sky Like you do little dill. Lucinda Berry Hill Author of "Coffee with Jesus" AND "A Second Cup with Jesus" ©

Here's mine.

Ode to Dill

Take a couple of minutes to till

a space in your garden to sow dill.

Every year to return it will

for it self seeds readily, it spills

from dried seed heads a summer breeze will dispel.

Yes, dill is an annual which self-seeds at will.

Its frilly green foliage will thrill.

Its pungent scent will your nose fill.

You can hardly wait until

potato salad with dill

your plate fills

or better still

an egg salad with dill

and spinach sandwich chilled.

Take a minute to plant dill

this year and from then on dill's

brown seed pills

will spill

later popping up wherever to fill

your garden twice yearly with fresh dill.

Dill seeds were once shared for free, without a bill,

to make dilled green beans which a mason jar filled.

Good on the side with a burger grilled

or with a glass of tomato juice chilled.

Go harvest your garlic and dill

to make pickles. You'll be thrilled.

Gardeners will appreciate that unwelcome garden guests will

be repulsed by dill's pungent scent when they come to nibble what spills

from their vegetable garden's till.

Other herbs will also fill this bill.

All throughout history,

as one relays stories

from folk tales and the wise,

dill has symbolized

good fortune and wealth,

as well as promotes health.

Dill tea is said to soothe stomach aches.

Trouble sleeping? Dill will induce sleep.

A dill pickle as a bedtime snack, anyone?

Low in calories, you can have more than one.

The verb dill means to still, calm, soothe.

Be sure to plant this herb to prove.

* * * * *

The herb dill has been around since Biblical days.

Love how this passage in Isaiah is paraphrased:

"His God instructs him and teaches him the right way." (28:26 NIV)

God instructs and teaches us the right way each day.

Right in the middle of this passage re tending a garden,

when our minds are quiet, we can hear God speak quite often.

Isn't that special!

Yes, God thinks you're special.

You'll find gardening is therapeutic or healing

for mind, body, spirit, and soul all-encompassing.

Let the fresh air and sunshine,

the stretching of your tendons,

release healing endorphins

reducing physical pain,

as you give God your Creator praise

for feeling well enough to garden today.

And be sure to listen to that still, small voice

that will cause your soul and spirit to rejoice

of God instructing you for whatever it is that troubles

with encouraging words and promises from the Bible.

Do you have a couple of minutes to kill?

Take time to dally awhile among the dill.

God just might have a message for you

that will change and uplift your view.

Give ear, and hear my voice;

hearken, and hear my speech.

Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?

Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

When he hath made plain the face of it,

doth he not cast abroad the dill,

and scatter the cummin,

and cast in the wheat in rows

and the appointed barley and the splet in their place?

For his God doth instruct him to discretion,

and doth teach him.

For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument,

neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin;

but the dill is beaten out with a staff,

and the cummin with a rod.

Bread grain is ground,

because he will not ever be threshing it,

nor beak it with the wheel of his cart,

nor grind it with his horsemen.

This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,

who is wonderful in counsel,

and excellent in working.

Isaiah 28:23-29 (KJV)

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cummin.

But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -

justice, mercy and faithfulness.

You should have practiced the latter,

without neglecting the former.

Matthew 23:23

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