Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined
so many times that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends-----
truly knows---
that where there was a garden once,
it can be again,
or where there never was, there yet can be a garden

-Henry Mitchell

Ah Henry, you have seen my garden







Today is my birthday
no big deal, but this morning I gaze out the window
and behold the garden at rest
a blanket of cold comfort tucked about it
It is -1 degrees
brrrr

Happy Jack is gone, but others, maybe his children,
have moved into the Alder tree
How I chuckle now thinking back to the Fall day
when I saw all those broken branches on the garden path
which made me look up to see such cute baby squirrels
already knowledgeable about getting ready for winter
Ah you must have been the ones who ate the Tulip tree flowers
..that's okay

I have been neglectful of the garden
instead focusing my attention to what ails me inside
that has been slow to be comforted
But I am healed
and now I make dreams of getting my hands back into dirt
....on a much smaller scale
...old age
63...
has set in
I can't do what I used to do
Ah, this struggle
inside of me
But, I say, I have known many a gardener that worked well into the night and early morning arose
who where well into their 80's
Why am I suddenly struck with pains and aches that keep me inside
or sitting on the deck watching instead of doing?
Grief of the heart did me in
So this morning I take great joy again
in the squirrels and the birds
especially the happy chickadees
that still let out sounds in the freezing cold
...ah
a lesson here
Keep doing what you were meant to do
and sing baby sing