Winter Garden

“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

It’s a white dark world 
Time stops, frozen, lifeless.
Yet creeks flow on and
magpies move from 
bare branch to needled bough
proving otherwise.

These quiet trees and savvy scavengers 
need no tending 
so my gardener goes inside
where there is much work to do.

Bleak thoughts to weed
harmful habits to prune
love to fertilize
humor to mulch 
maybe even a sapling of acceptance to nurture 
for a spring graft onto an old trunk 
that no longer bears fruit.

There are goals I have sewn like bulbs 
in the coldening ground
that when warmed and watered 
by western winds will lift above ground.
Or won’t. 

The mystery reveals
what the Little Prince knew,
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose
that makes your rose so important.”
The gift of sustained effort.

Standing back and surveying the plot
my gardener never feels like the work is done
the weeds will always return
the bulbs will always need dividing into new aspirations.
A place to tend with all the loving care I can find,
that is what the garden gives me.