The Garden & The Gardener - Two Poems

The Garden

- by Kathleen Jamie -

What little I know

of the way of the world

-- scarce anything.

There's mystery in my own back green

-- especially in my own back garden!

Of drizzle

spangling the plum tree

the woodstack's shade,

the way a peanut-holder judders

when a speug's just flown --

and as for these daisies

encamped all over the grass

-- same as last week's, last year's, same

yet not identical

to those I gazed at as a girl

candid and undemanding

all receiving their share

The Gardener

- by Mary Oliver -

Have I lived enough? Have I loved enough? Have I considered Right Action enough, have I come to any conclusion? Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude? Have I endured loneliness with grace?

I say this, or perhaps I’m just thinking it. Actually, I probably think too much.

Then I step out into the garden, where the gardener, who is said to be a simple man, is tending his children, the roses.