We gather in this garden
we have all defended and for decades
planted and tended.
We have won the right to celebrate,
to dance a hundred dances friends,
sing and write as many songs,
toast, clap and stand
corn, sunflower and trellis tall.
We’ve won the gift to garden this land -
wrestle weeds, trowel spring ground,
seed and cover, water and pray,
our roots are deep set down.
We’ve learned the way to huddle and break
out like seeds finding a place.
Remember?
Darlene’s snap peas
Oak Man’s borage
John’s asparagus
Michael’s wild flowers
Sally’s strawberries
Tammy’s nettle
Dana planting on the hill
Connie and Wes, Maria and Lenny -
two mothers and their sons
Nacho’s students, always at home
Teri and Leslie, pollinator tending
Jim and Kyle, greeting each morning
devoted Ellan and her volunteers
benches of cedar by carpenter John
Pam’s welcoming hollyhocks
Jess and Kedar’s tomatillos
Kayoko sharing herbal teas
Patience’s plot of lettuce and beets
Regina’s lilies every spring
Peter’s table for mingling.
We gather in this garden
we have all tended and for decades
planted and tended.
We have won the right to celebrate,
to dance a hundred dances friends,
sing and write as many songs,
toast, clap and stand
corn, sunflower and trellis tall.
