Why I Garden

She has roses she doesn't want
because they require too much care
and tending
But I
Enjoy the shaping of things,
the caring for the living,
seeing it bloom.

To tend a garden is to tend a soul
To know the rising and the falling of the day
Noticing how flowers turn to face the sun
The way leaves wilt or curl before the rain
So it can reach the roots
and nourish.

Sometimes the gardener must be cruel to be kind
A plant after pruning
looks dead
Bare wood, cut back to almost nothing
as Winter comes

But look again in the Spring
and you will see the great gift
the greening of the world.