A 

Passion 

for Pruning

I’m doing the wind’s work

pruning the geraniums 

with impersonal care

though I love them (sort of)

do they even know I’m there?

Pruning is my favorite pastime,

I’d weed and shape myself (and I do!)

knowing how buds are easily born

by beheading a stalk or two.

Lord, let me never tire of growing,

no matter when it comes or where;

out of my element or off my game,

I refuse ever to cease to take care.

For all of us are like flowers,

whether our petals are pink or red.

We need the rain, the wind, and sun,

to insure we’re properly bred.

If beauty’s in the eye of the beholder,

then we gardeners have work to do,

because being in charge of a flower

is a privilege when it falls to you.

If you’ve no interest in blooming

here, there, now or ever again,

then what’s the point of beauty

if it can’t be offered to a friend?

We are tulips with burnished edges,

roses with a sunset’s purple hue,

dandelions meant to wander

filling in a field with yellow (or two!).

Being both gardeners and flowers

is a conundrum that’s for sure.

But the purpose of our horticulture

is to be the cause of one’s own cure.

09/09/21