Have You Tended a Garden?

Have you had your neck turn red as you lay your knees upon the earth

and pull out the troublesome weeds sprouting like fire from a hearth?

Have you felt the energy radiating from the top layers of soil,

the shift of the cabbage worm or the chorus of the cricket’s soul?

Have you dug your fingers into the dirt, in acceptance

of the ugly organism's existence?

Have you felt their jittering beings dance upon the flesh under your nail,

strong, like the muscled body of a snail?

Have you placed a single seed into a dark hole, and counted,

the days                       and weeks,                  and months

that make up our growing days, until the unbelievable break of life,

cries out, as if you are the garden’s midwife.

Have you ever tended a garden?

Do you understand what it takes to grow?

It’s not enough to bargain,

you must deny the beckoning calls of death from the crow.