She visits my garden overgrown during the
long rainy season. She brings her spade and
meets me out back eager for pungent handfuls of earth.
I can only watch from the kitchen window.
She hasn’t brought some guy from Home Depot’s
parking lot to do the heavy lifting. Working the dirt
with calloused hands, she observes the beautiful
mess and removes weeds one by one by one.
There’s no rush to the finish. Tentatively I follow
her lead, falling to my knees and accepting
the tedious work without knowing where it will
lead. No shortcuts here.
As dusk approaches, I notice we’ve set free only a
small section of the garden, leaving scattered
scarlet flowers in the ground. She has found
what she was looking for and so have I, for now.
“The rainy season brings more than weeds,” she says,
“and the beauty needs to stay.” I can only cling to
the words. Come the dawn I pull on my gloves and
step outside to find my spirit already at work.
Natalie Rust Morris – September 1, 2008
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3 comments:
That's really beautiful, Natalie. One of my favorites of yours so far. :)
Thank you, Jo - that means a lot to me. Love you, Nat
Wow! I can just see you working away in your garden, ridding it of the greedy weed. You are so good and I love the way you have with words.
I love your writing and I love you!
Mom
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