Spring Garden

by jr paruolo
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I was determined to know beans. Walden - Henry David Thoreau
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Having waited for the frozen
Ground to soften and reopen
I stand before last year's garden
Ready to begin its resurrection

Gently working the earth,
Pushing my fingers into the loam,
Removing the unwanted stones -
Feeling the pulse of rebirth

Clearing the dormant weeds
With rakes and hoes -
Sowing handfuls of seeds
Along shallow rows -

The curious crows
Watch silently.
The earthworms burrow
Deeper to escape the calamity

And as the sun completes its arc
my blistered hands are proof
that i have fulfilled my small part-
The rest is up to the roots