Diversity

-------Diversity-------

Aesthetic alone
is a fruitless garden.

It seeks to fill only
the human desires that it creates.

Serving these persistently,

conditioned gardeners pull out most every plant,

roots
     and
          all,

until the earth is left bare

and shivering.

Vanity is a vice upon what each can give;

a vice upon the harvest.

And the weeds that some call ugly and out of place,
they are the ones that promise shelter to the bearing fruit.

So please, take care,
"Master Gardener";

humble yourself.

For diversity can do things

that our hands,
themselves,

could never.

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To Care for Weeds

-------To Care for Weeds-------

Seek what has been lost to you;

all difference
you have learned to avoid,

and un-learn
yourself from that distaste for bitter things.

For wild weeds and sorrow

are
within
a tonic

and have a sweetness all their own.

Go forth with love for strangers.

May you always find
right medicine

in the rainbow meadows
of your soul.

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Young Blood

-------Young Blood-------

Let the world touch you
in ways
you've learned it shouldn't.

In ways the Border says you can't.

These trees
stand for your ascension
and fences
are made for climbing.

Show us,
Young Blood,
to the forest in your eyes,

to wonder again

and to break
the rules
worth
breaking.

-------

Little Seed

-------Little Seed-------

If asking for help will make you feel little,

be little

for a moment.

The soul is deep

and pride too fragile
to measure the worth of things.

Let those who judge

see more clearly

through
you.

Empathy, God knows,

is struggle's
little seed.

-------

Learning to Use a Scythe

-------Learning to Use a Scythe-------

We need not swing heavy,
dear friend.

We have done the peening and now our tool is sharp.

It took the toil, though,

those days at hacking weeds,

to learn the practicality of care.

It's taken the callusing

to soften will enough to see

ourselves manifest in our vocation.

No longer a product of this world but creators along with it,
we share love songs
through the tender choir of our hands.

And in a field
of grasses and wild flowers,

the work
     we live
          comes home.

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Beginning Seed

-------Beginning Seed-------

Roots, a river

the beginning seed.

Moss-covered stones

beneath the hemlock trees.

A mother's ashes
and a child's step,

"float
     away
          roses,

we will not forget you".

'Cause love builds bridges

and it takes them down,

stone by stone

back to the ground;

Where children climb

and petals wilt

and what once was

is forever still.

-------

Peace of Mind

-------Peace of Mind-------

Creation waits

for the quiet to shine in 

like sunrise

through the window

and fill your entire room

with light.

Please,

don't close the blinds 

just yet;

it is much easier to see 

in here

when they're open.

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A Kind Reminder

-------A Kind Reminder-------

Forgive loneliness

as a kind reminder to keep moving

and walk with me, Sister,

to the garden

where there is always something 

beautiful in flower.

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