I am the patient gardener

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S h i n i n g   A w a y

Mount Hope Cemetery

Florence, South Carolina

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I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years ... .

I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper ... .

When the young girl who starves
sits down to a table
she will sit beside me ... .

I am food on the prisoner's plate ... .

I am water rushing to the wellhead,
filling the pitcher until it spills ... .

I am the patient gardener
of the dry and weedy garden ... .

I am the stone step,
the latch, and the working hinge ... .

I am the heart contracted by joy ... .
the longest hair, white
before the rest ... .
I am there in the basket of fruit
presented to the widow ... .

I am the musk rose opening
unattended, the fern on the boggy summit ... .

I am the one whose love
overcomes you, already with you
when you think to call my name ... .

> Jane Kenyon <

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Happy Wednesday