Tuesday, September 27, 2022

seeds


within my gardener's pockets are seeds

i harvested all seasons-

round & small as buttons

flat & pointed as pins

white, brown, speckled, yellow, black 

or shiny and pearly

i have all the colors- 


soon, i will open my shed for more seeds-

mottled, scarred, rusty, half-pitted ones-

it comes

from all over my travels

i have kept them in the darkness for the season


but now it it time

to scatter them in the wide fields

all the seeds are covered with soil & water & compost

i don't know which ones will take root & grow

some will blossom in a few weeks with leaves

some will decay underneath the soil and never

even bloom


but this i know:  all are good 

so are the sky, sun, rain, cloud storms and creatures

pollinating and moving the pollen & grains-

there will be good fruits to harvest

there will also be plants to prune and throw away


one rotten apple does not mean the tree is not good

sometimes we just need to look for other good apples 

& often times finding one good apple is enough

for this gnarled gardener's hands



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -  A discussion on Good and Evil, hosted by Punam.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  





19 comments:

  1. What a terrific metaphor... I feel like we have to let all the seeds grow, even though some are bad we cannot know from the start.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bjorn. It took me time to find the right metaphor for this prompt.

      Delete
  2. What a wonderful poem, Grace. I love the needlework metaphor you used to describe seeds: ‘round & small as buttons / flat & pointed as pins’, as if you are sewing a patchwork of plants. I especially like the lines:
    ‘one rotten apple does not mean the tree is not good
    sometimes we just need to look for other good apples
    & oftentimes finding one good apple is enough
    for this gnarled gardener's hands’.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Grace, I love how you mixed the metaphors. Yes, one good apple is often enough. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The closing is so beautiful, the work is all worth it for the one apple! 💝

    ReplyDelete
  5. This reminds me of the parable with the wheat and the darnel
    Happy Tuesday.

    Much💛love

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this! Yes, we are all good. Seeds, apples, people. Such is life. Some will be rotten and will harm those the closest to them but as you say Grace, that rotten apple does not kill the tree.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A very pleasing poem anchored with a fine metaphor. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your description of the seeds, and the whole extended metaphor. Acceptance. Joy in the small gifts. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have penned a lovely metaphor for life. Yet there is no morality in nature. A windfall is food for someone, a rotten tree is home to thousands, and every seed that dies enriches the soil. It's all 'good' in nature and there is no 'evil'.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Leave it to Homo sapiens to conclude there can only be all good or all bad, I guess so King Baby Ego and decide which side to fight. But you're right, patient gardeners stick around long enough to celebrate the diverse result. Nature abhors monoculture and monomaniacs!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, Grace. I don't know why but this brought tears to my eyes. Well, I do. Because that's what pure poetry does, pristine in thought and word. And the metaphor of seeds, with all its allusions, just sensitizes the listening heart (yeah, I'm mixing metaphors) as when it hears the wisdom of the ages. Which this contains so naturally, as seeds in the Gardener's pocket.
    ~ Dora

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wonderful poem with a wonderful message. One good apple *is* enough. <3

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is a superb metaphor! I loved this poem :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nothing will change if we stop planting seeds even though we can't know which will grow.
    I liked the positivity in your poem. Wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Grace, I like your gardener, he knows what he planted. When I was in school I became our school representative to compete in "weed seed judging at the state fair. Yes, your gardiner knows.
    ..

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's a wise way to look at the circle of life. We must always keep that hope and scatter those seeds. (Kerfe)

    ReplyDelete

I try my best to reciprocate comments and visits.
I allow anonymous comments if you have difficulty posting them. Thank you & have a good day!!!