Eulogy

She would spend hours in the garden

tending,

hoeing,

playing.

She understood that seeds planted in the spring

would not bear fruit till the fall,

she understood patience,

and the rewards that follow.

You would not find expensive, showy, designer plants,

she didn’t care if your garden was more impressive

for an orchid doesn’t bear fruit,

a tomato plant would do just fine.

She would tend the soil,

the foundation,

and let the roots grow deep

so that in the drought there

would be something to sustain life

there were times when the only rain came from her tears.

When the harvest was bountiful.................

she would praise God

when the harvest was meager......... she would again praise God..........

She encouraged her children

no,

she forced her children to learn how to remove the weeds

from the garden.

we all,

now,

are gardeners

Mother surrounded herself

with fellow gardeners

together they worked the fields

and shared the harvest.........

She once told me that a garden was a reflection of God's love,

it was an example of faith that you would plant the seeds

and tend the garden without seeing the harvest,

you had to have faith that the work would be rewarded.

She also told me that this was how love was,

that you must never stop tending your garden

just because you can get your fruit somewhere else easier

it just doesn’t taste as sweet.

Looking back,

it was no surprise to me that the day she went into the hospital

for the last time

that her grandchildren were preparing her garden

for winter's sleep.

My mother was a gardener

life was her field

and she was a damn fine gardener.