I feel in love with this poem years ago alone in a book store in San Fransisco…It took me years to find it again, but as I was in the garden today it was running through my mind. If you know a woman gardener, pass it on, I guarantee she will appreciate it.
Ode to Woman Gardening
Yes, I knew that your hands were
the sweet Dianthus, the silvery
Lily:
knew that you were allied
with the soil,
with the flowering of the earth,
but
when
I saw you digging, digging,
removing rocks
and coping with roots,
I knew at once,
my little farmer,
that
not only
your hands
but your heart
were of the earth,
that there
you were working
your wonders,
touching
moist
doors
where
seeds
come
and go.
So, from
one
newly planted
plant
to another,
your face
stained
with an earthy
kiss,
you went
back and firth
flowering,
and
from you hand
the stalk
of the Amaryllis
raised its solitary elegance,
the jasmine
adorned
the mist of your brow
with stars of aroma and dew.
Everything
grew from you,
penetrating
the earth,
immediately
becoming
green light,
foliage and strength.
you communicated your seeds
to the earth,
my beloved
auburn-haired gardener:
your hand
spoke lovingly
to the earth,
and bright budding
was instantaneous.
Love, so too
your hand
of water,
your heart of earth,
lent
fertility
and force tot my songs.
You touch
my chest
while I sleep
and trees bud
from my dream.
Awake, I open my eyes,
and you have planted
in me
astonished stars
that soar
with my song.
It is true, gardener:
our love
is earthly:
your mouth is the plant of light, corolla,
my heart toils among the roots.
-Paula Neruda-( From Selected Odes of Pablo Neruda Translated by Margaret Sayers Penden)
