Working the Garden

There’s a lot you can do in a garden

Besides raising onions and peas;

It’s a place where I know

All alone I can go

To set my distraught mind at ease.

There I dig down to true understanding

Resentments I weed at each bed

And with rake and a hoe

While I’m kneeling I sow

New seeds of forgiveness instead.

There’s so much you can do in a garden.

Besides pulling up harmful weeds;

On your knees working there

You may think of a prayer

To offer for somebody’s needs.

You can bury your heartaches and anger

Deep under the toughest sod,

And you’ll sweat as you hoe

But you’ll certainly grow

In closer communion with God.

There’s a lot you can do in a garden

Besides getting healthfully tired.

As you hoe row on row,

Watching everything grow,

With kindlier thoughts you’re inspired.

Like a chapel for deep meditation

On weakness and personal strife,

In the garden you feel

As you labor and kneel

Impelled to make more out of life!

– Gerald Weitz