Garden Grace Poem by Diana van den Berg

There she was...
in the garden
gathering a rainbow of flowers
in the summer sun,
laying each gently,
with reverence and care
in the basket
resting lightly on her arm.

She picked another flower
and mused a moment,
a slow smile playing on her lips,
the ocean in her eyes.
She lifted the flower to her nose
and its sweet fragrance
flooded her nostrils
and pervaded her lungs.

There was nobody around
so she allowed the veil of sadness
to draw itself slowly, like curtains,
over her eyes
and none heard the name she whispered
tenderly into the flower.

Then, a cold canine nose on her right leg
and a furry feline body wrapped around her left,
evaporated the veil,
and as she bent to put the basket down
to hug her beloved babies to her heart,
the sun’s reflection sparkled in her eyes,
and her bubbling words of adoration
and her bright summer smile
warmed the day
of a happy family of three,
basking in their indestructible bond.

(25 August 2011)