I’m not sure what it is about gardening that brings out the rhyme and meter in me, but it seems to have happened again. (Previous effort: Garden delights.)
Response to the gardener’s proposal
Do not speak to me of roses
rooted in a garden fair:
I would rather hear of meadows
and the thistles growing there.
Do not talk of ordered orchards
laid in rows all long and neat:
I would rather dream of wildwood
overgrown with bittersweet.
If marriage be a stately garden,
it were all too mild and tame:
measured beds with well-marked borders
hedged and trimmed to look the same.
I prefer a reckless corner
riotous with self-sown seeds,
tended with unbound affection
and a fondness for glorious weeds.
* * *
A question, dear reader: Do you prefer it laid out as above or below?
Response to the gardener’s proposal
Do not speak to me of roses rooted in a garden fair:
I would rather hear of meadows and the thistles growing there.
Do not talk of ordered orchards laid in rows all long and neat:
I would rather dream of wildwood overgrown with bittersweet.
If marriage be a stately garden, it were all too mild and tame:
measured beds with well-marked borders hedged and trimmed to look the same.
I prefer a reckless corner riotous with self-sown seeds,
tended with unbound affection and a fondness for glorious weeds.
* * *
I like the visual weight of the four-line stanzas, but worry that it may interfere with reading, which should be phrased as two lines. What do you think?
The Daily Compost 
I do like the 2 line stanzas better. The 4-line version feels too weighty to me for meadows.
I like the way you phrased that: “too weighty to me for meadows” is a lovely poetic line in itself. Thanks for weighing in! (Sorry; I couldn’t resist.) 😉
I find I read it the same way in both formats. My preference is the 4 line stanza, but it doesn’t really change the piece.
I’m rather of the same opinion on both counts. Thank you for chiming in!
I prefer the second version, as it’s easier to take in the rhymes.
So this sounds like a no to the gardener’s proposal? Unless perhaps he or she is willing to have a messier garden.
I think you’re right. At the very least the speaker isn’t interested in a conventional arrangement. Thank you for weighing in!