By Jo Ann Herbert
These fragrant historic roses have not opened yet this season. My garden’s past beauty has suffered damage as the poem references, but as all of us age and life unfolds, I hope we remember what of beauty and joy we have expressed created and shared in this life.
May 2023
I just went outside to check on my flower friends
and as happens every year about this time,
the Cecile Brunner rose vines fully in flower
I stood amazed at the
unfolding of life all around me
when I remember so well the bareness of the fall and winter garden
and with it my feeling that this spring
maybe because of all the sadness
and my neighbor’s trespassing upon it
that it would not somehow thrive
but with no effort each plant found its way up
not knowing or caring that the people around were sad or confused
or destructive or lost ~
all the plants, each one, knew their place
assured of their part in the scheme of things
right there where they were planted
little birds walking underneath near their roots
deer passing by and butterflies
This is my comfort in a seemingly chaotic world
of concrete.
How lucky to walk under Sequoia trees and among
Lily of the Valley and Violets and
large hanging branches of Vibernum.
They all appear at this time and then are gone
leaving their scent and their solace on my soul.
Jo Ann Herbert RN, BSN (retired)
