goose, shout, savory

  Goose at Groombridge.

A notice in the door of shop where all the windows are covered while work is in progress reads: "Please shout. We may be uspstairs." For some reason, these two sentence go round in my head, as though they are a refrain or line in one of those repetative verse forms like villanelle or sestina. Another poem on the stocks, then.

All last summer I nurtured a herb called summer savory, spicy and aromtic. But I didn't know what to do  with it.  Meanwhile, for years Heidi had been telling me about a herb known to her in Germany as Bohnenkraut. She said,  that in Germany, as the name suggests, it is always cooked with beans.  It must be around in England, I told her; but we couldn't work out its English name. Now, this Spring, a seed packet arrives from Germany with Bohnnenkraut on the label. And in brackets after the name, the word savory. This year, with the first crop of runner or French beans, savory will be in attendance, that's a promise.