Planting Life

The threshold waits before you
the garden waits beyond;
what you plant is what you'll reap
when seasons have moved on.

When springtime fades to summer
and summer fades to fall
and winter's white hair slumbers
bringing chills to root and all.

What will you have planted there
beneath the blanket of your life?
Will you have you grown your happiness
to fullest, grandest height?

While planting in that garden,
don't forget how things can grow;
the hollyhocks along the fence
won't stay in a straight row.

The daffodils will wander
and the weeds will come to call;
the dandelions running wild
will come to crash where they might fall.

Be careful of how much you plant
into the earth that you must tend
'cause everything needs room to grow
and you'll at times need time to mend.

Don't lock the gates and let the briars
climb the bars and block your view
The world has liars and thieves
but gates turn out the honest too.

The best intent sometimes won't be enough,
some things will die despite your work.
Instead of tending "might have been"
you pour your heart back into the dirt.

And if you look too closely at each plant
the world will only look quite small;
and if you often say that you can not
then nothing becomes... naught at all

All that lives knows joy and hurt
and all that's strong must sometimes bend
and everything needs sun and rain,
it doesn't mean your dreams must end.

No matter how old you become
your plants will never become stone;
they grow with you and will welcome,
the way you've changed... they way you've grown.