What is Love-in-Idleness?
A common wild flower,
Annual or short-lived.
This name is also applied to similar species
Where it has spread.
A small plant of creeping habit
Usually found in partial shade,
The plant has no rosette.
Leaves are contrary, alternate,
Often quite developed.
The flowers are solitary.
It can most often be the most sought after.
It is common almost everywhere
Near the sea or inland
At altitudes ranging from 0
It grows.
Ornamental and medicinal
Cultivated, sweet,
The seeds and roots
Should be used with caution.
While the leaves can be used
To indicate acidity
The plant has low toxicity.
The fresh plant, and its derivatives
Have proven to be useful,
Giving rise to high stability.
According to mythology
It is often used for idleness or vileness.
What Shakespeare had in mind was not a modern garden pansy.
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A wikipedia poem… Every word in this poem was taken from the wikipedia article for Love-in-Idleness; no word is out of order, although of course many have been discarded when they weren’t quite what we needed at the time.
