Thursday, May 2, 2013

How We Make Our Garden Grow

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The first year, 
a few scraggly tulips and daffodils
clawed their way up
through the packed rooted earth.
I watered them well,
loved them,
admired them, 
covered them with leaves
against the winter cold
and watched them multiply,
spring after spring,
until now row upon row
of jaunty colorful blooms
circle the elderly maple
to welcome in each spring.

What we focus on
expands.

Whales swimming through
the toxic ocean
are just as aware as we are,
that our joint survival
is in peril.
Sometimes their mournful song
precedes their beaching
in heartbreaking numbers
on the sandy shore.

Birds still fly through
the polluted air,
eat our pesticide-drenched toxic seeds, 
sometimes mysteriously
plummet from the sky
to lie , lifeless, upon the ground.

Such trees as are still standing
continue to shade us from 
the increasingly relentless sun,
still join in the exchange of air 
all species need to survive.
But the more they are cut down,
the hotter the planet becomes,
the faster the icebergs melt,
the higher the world's oceans creep
upon the continental shores.

And war, poverty, displacement,
discord and division
are everywhere,
because what we focus on expands.

But more and more we recognize
that we are all connected;
we are all seeking sanctuary,
are all in need of peace.
In ever-increasing numbers,
may we join together
to bless and protect life.
Increasingly, the universe will respond.
Let our prayers flow as a healing rain
upon the troubled earth,
for what we focus on, expands.

Start small: bless your tulip bed
and help it live.
Feed the birds whole seeds,
so they survive.
Love the trees which breathe with
and shelter us.

Look at life
through eyes of peace,
of love,
of beatitude and blessing,
for what we focus on,
expands.


18 comments:

  1. My eyes of peace and love are widened by your words. John

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  2. "...for what we focus on expands."
    Amen. Thus with this poem, start with a domestic garden,and the concept grows to embrace whales and trees,and everything.

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  3. A very powerful and important poem. I love this.

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  4. But more and more we recognize
    that we are all connected;
    we are all seeking sanctuary,
    are all in need of peace.

    These words really stayed with me--the truth of them

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  5. When we bought this place, it had a huge and mostly empty back lawn. I immediately began to plant trees and shrubs. I don't pick any of the berries, but leave them, unsprayed, for the birds to feast upon.
    Lindy, when we first got her, ate Mountain Ash berries, much to my dismay, but they didn't seem to do her any harm. The next year she was much too well-fed to be interested in them.
    People ask me why I plant so many trees and shrubs, and I say the air needs them.
    Love this poem, Sherry. So sad and so beautiful — so beautifully sad, especially the beached whales and the falling birds.
    K

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  6. I love this philosophy, Sherry. May we all focus on the good and multiply it in our own lives.

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  7. My favorite line? Start small. It is the only way... to do anything. One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, one act of unselfishness, kindness. One.

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  8. A beautiful message, specially the last verse Sherry ~ May we always reminder that we are all interconnected ~

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  9. HI, Sherry.
    My favorite line in the poem is:

    Sometimes their mournful song
    precedes their beaching
    in heartbreaking numbers
    on the sandy shore.

    Beautiful!

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  10. Start small: bless your tulip bed
    and help it live.

    Just beautiful. And wise.

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  11. Such a sad tale ends with hope. You implore us to start small do what we can do in our own little piece of earth so it can expand around the world.

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  12. "What we focus on expands." Sherry, for me that means choosing my focus first! ha ha ha

    Your list of the earth's problems, including the whales (heartbreaking), is so true. Monsanto can go to hell. Greed is the cause. So perhaps I shall focus on praying for an end to greed, for those people at the very TOP to embrace the idea that we are all one community, including flora and fauna and creatures of the deep.

    Yes, that's my focus for tonight. Thank you, my friend. Love, A

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  13. This should be Mother Nature's song!

    Wish the world would wake up sooner....

    Beautiful and like Susie said you end with hope! :D

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  14. Of course, I love your focus and hope to add my own magnification to this world view.

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  15. love the ending! - nice nurturing poem

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