<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">The Gardener – To Diana</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Her garden is an invitation</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">to lovers and dreamers and drinkers of wine</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">who per chance would wander this way</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and dare step in the mythical land never openly offered</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">but ready to accept those who know they belong.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">The Garden would never be refused</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">if they only knew how to ask</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and push though the neutral ambivalence</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">with their <i>desire</i> to walk the enchantment</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">of this tender entanglement of florescence,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">secrets paths through blossoming shrubs,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">water fountains and ponds,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">this display of fragrances and colors for the eye to repose</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">in the assurance of total acceptance.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">I <i>intended</i> to obtain permission</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">to walk with the unseeable Gardener,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">sit on each of the chairs inviting different perspectives,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and in the arrangement around tables that held no morsels</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">open my arms to invisible beings.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Parasols of every hue tame the brightness of the sun</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><i>allow</i><i>ing</i> the sight to witness different angles of self</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font style="font-size: 12pt;">reflected in branches swaying in gentle<i> surrender</i></font></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and yielding to the caress of the breeze</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">that sets set them trembling </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">as they take the voice of the departed beloved</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">dispelling the fear of winter:</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;">“<font face="Times New Roman, serif">Trust in the next flowering</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">a trust so immense it will set the world afloat</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">in this age of despair,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">you can navigate the minefields of life through the corridors of time </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and receive the knowing that does not invite knowledge but shies away from it.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Resists the temptation of separation</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">in this garden where all life, </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">big and small,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">is inextricably connected, </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">when you <i>surrender </i>to the Gardener </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">and<i> allow</i> her to bring your tears to laughter.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Don’t be afraid,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">we are all securelyly held</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">in the infinite mind of the All.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 16px; background: none;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Remember We are the Gardener!”</font></p></body></html>