In the Garden

Come, join with us! The garden sings out.

I walk barefoot across dry earth, spiky weeds, and sharp stones, to the soft grass beneath the garden archway. Vines of tromboncino zucchinis snake their way up and over the archway’s rusty mesh frame. Through the mesh, the tromboncinos’ trumpet-like forms hang with their yellow flowers wide open, as if blasting in musical celebration.

To the side of the archway stand tall rows of rainbow coloured corn  
I see how the tendrils of the corn are intertwined with the tendrils of the zucchinis
Where does one end and another begin?! I can’t even tell now 
From the same earth they once grew
Yet come now from different directions – corn rising, zucchini bowing
That they may meet here like this
Their tendrils, once separate, now inseparable.

Ah, the breeze brings to me the smell of the sweet peas!
Their sweet smell draws me in close
After that big storm, when branches fell and the water was deeper than the weeds
These sweet peas lay prostrate upon the ground
Made heavy by the relentless rain, they had fallen from their climbing frame
It was believed they could only grow upright with such help
Yet here they now rise up to my knees – without a climbing frame in sight
How is this possible?
Like the zucchinis and corn, their tendrilled fingers have joined
Hand in hand now, they support each other to grow up towards the sun
No longer having any need for their old structures.

I notice the three small trees in the distance and go to them
Walking not on the soft grass, but through the muck
Oh, the muck! It’s so….mucky
But it’s quicker and easier to go through it than around it
And this here is the true gold (how often I forget!) from which so much grows.  

I kneel down now before the three small apple trees
They bear no fruit yet
For now, they are spending their time growing strong roots
As I stroke their tender leaves, I remember
That one day a young child ate an apple here in this garden
And when the child finished the apple, they held three of the seeds in their small hand
Wondering, ‘Could these become trees?’
Then they dug down into the dirt and planted each of the three seeds
With small hands filled with possibility.

Oh, wherever did time go?
Here now is the moon, to softly usher in the night
As the sun sets in farewell
The laughing kookaburras arrive:
In concert with the flaming-pink sky
They surround the garden now
An amphitheatre of laughter
That blesses this day
As I swirl and swirl in joyful circles – into the coming darkness.

Dear One

This wild laughter, these sky flames – may they serve to remind
That Love, in all its variations
Is infinitely more Powerful
Than any of fear’s creations

May you allow

There is a Beauty, a Peace and a Power within you
That you will come to know
When you trust that what you most long to plant
Will indeed grow

May you continue

There is one inside you
Who can see with such Innocence
Living moments of wonder and magic
Freed from tales of experience

May you let go

Love grows so easily when it’s allowed
That’s the gift always offered to you
May all be touched when we join hand in hand
May together we dance to what’s True

Thank you

(‘Garden Delights’ was written February 2022)