Plant Medicine Poetry: Thistle

In the lockdown of 2020 Thistle grew outside my garden gate. Loud and proud, surrounded by dozens of bees, she leant over the threshold to my garden, guarding my space with 30 beautiful bright purple heads and hundreds of spines. On a sunny day I sat with her in my garden and wrote down her message…

Thistle

Thank you for your medicine

I accept your teachings

I reclaim my feminine

Fierce protection and boundaries

Thats how to protect your heart within

When wearing your heart on your sleeve

You must learn to not give in

Those who heave after your bloom

Meddling or intrusion are forbidden

Strengthen your defence

You like the way it’s already written

Reach for the sun

Your beauty no longer hidden

Let it be done

Banish those who are unbidden

Fierceness is not weakness

To be gentle requires strength

A warning to passers by

Who approach with prowess

Here I stand

Heed these spines my feet deep in the land

Stronger than before

I know myself right down at my core

I open to clarity, beauty and power

To nourish the souls who still cower

For I will shine my light for all to see

Unashamed now, I let myself be

For now I stand tall, erected

Knowing I am protected

No shame in my heart

I am no longer afraid to start

Step by step

I remember to weave my web

Bringing love into my existence

With my persistence

I believe in coexistence

With my spines

I am no longer confined

The cage opened wide

I will no longer divide my inner life

I will no longer hide

I am free

In all that I be

I am free

For all to see

I am free

With my spines

I reclaim and define

My life I refine

Thank you for your medicine

Thistle

I reclaim my feminine