Garden
Looking into the Face of a Dandelion Puff
Click for meditationRegarding "Looking into the Face of a Dandelion Puff"
When I looked at that
Dandelion puff, my immediate thought
Was I was looking at a facsimile
Of what the Big Bang must have first
Appeared in the beginning salvo’s
Nanoseconds…an ever-expanding,
Billowing, outward scattering,
Which to this very minute
After fourteen billion years
Still continues! What mystery!
What breath to set all that in motion!
And what a breath we, too, have,
Created as we are in God’s image,
To likewise seed our own self-made
Universe, an aspect of mine
Being my meek garden, which
Sits astride one mere acre of this
Blessed planet earth!
Leo Carroll
June 29, 2019
I have seen the universe,
But not through some telescope’s
Unimaginable magnification,
But with my own eyes
As they burrowed into the
Innocent face of a dandelion puff,
Where before my gaze
Unfolded a microcosm of God’s
Creation, just like at the
Big Bang, when The Almighty’s
Lips gently blew…and little
Star seeds were sown to the far
Corners of somewhere…
Ode to Iris
Click for meditationRegarding "Ode to Iris"
Many years ago,
Someone walking past
My garden told me
That an iris was a symbol
Of “friendship.” I had
Never heard that before,
And to this day do not
Know if it is true or not.
However, the sincerity and
Certitude with which
This was said to me have
Always stayed, and
So every year when the
First shoots of spring
Start to show themselves
In April, nay even late
March, I always look to
Confirm that some of these
Shoots belong to irises,
And when I see them I smile,
Because that person’s
Comment re-lives in my garden
At that moment, and also
Later in June when
Lavender petals radiate,
As if still trying to catch that
Passing person’s eye.
Leo Carroll
June 23, 2019
Someone once told me
You were a symbol of friendship, and
So in my garden you flourish
With those words inscribed
As nourishment.
Lavender seems to be
A favorite of your colors, and
So I till its hue more
Than all June others.
Daffodils
Click for meditationRegarding "Daffodils"
It came to me
That my own pilgrim’s path
Resembles the
Seasonal flow of my
Garden in a four-part act, with
The fresh growth of
Springtime’s hope and
Rebirth akin to my
Ever-evolving
Renewal, followed
By the endurance
Required in the summer
Heat of July…a
Metaphor for the
Endless twists and turns of
The human condition
As it sits the beach of
Low and high tides…
And then the final
Burst of color and beauty
In autumn, before
Plunging again
Into the deep sleep
Of winter, only to
Arise again in April,
Pointed and poised to
Resume my journey,
But always bowed by the
Growing pains of
Bloom in my
Season of change…
Leo Carroll
May 7, 2019
…One of the first
Fruits of spring — daffodils
Buttery-yellow and
Dangling from the
Ear lobes of morning —
And at their feet
In fealty, the remnants of a
Once-magnificent,
Autumn leaf, placed by
Winter’s wind and
Now a companion
And witness to
The fresh shoots
Of daylilies green,
And all of these
Stirrings staring into
The stoic eyes of
Garden stones, the
Singular thread
Stitching together
My rock garden
As my shifting
Seasons unfold…
Spring Cleaning
Click for meditationRegarding "Spring Cleaning"
Birds are so faithful,
And in my opinion are
Attuned to the emotions of people
They encounter. The chirp
Of a bird can be so uplifting and
Mood-changing, and
Seems to come at the
Most opportune
Of times. I believe
Birds can “sense” our
Minds and emotions, and
Can be “there” when we need
Someone or something
To be “there!” So
Often I have been
Stunned by the ministry
And blessings of birds.
Chickadees, in
Particular, are good
Examples of this. They
Are tiny, but their
Hearts are so large!
Once on a cold and raw,
Autumn day in New
Hampshire, I was standing
Beneath a very large pine in the
Woods and watching a
Flock of chickadees about
Fifty feet in front of
Me. Over a course of
Several minutes, they kept
Inching their way
Towards me, hopping
From branch to branch,
Until finally they
Were about five feet in
Front of my face…
Then, they all rose up with
A rush, with the feathers
Of one of them brushing my
Right cheek! What an
Expression of love that was,
What tenderness, what
A wonderful way to be
Touched by the wings of God!
And thus also this
Past spring, when I was
Doing cleanup in my
Garden after the snow and
Wind of winter, I was standing
In a bunch of leaves with
My rake when I heard a
Flurry of activity around me,
And I realized it was the
Love of chickadees
Returned to me again, as
They flapped their
Wings about my feet,
And anointed me with
Maple leaves fluffed
About my boots without
My even asking …
Leo Carroll
October 1, 2019
A rustle in the leaves —
Surrounding and about my feet — and
Each maple leaf moves as
If fluffed by the wind,
But lo, ’twas not
A zephyr, but a gust of
Chickadees alighting like an
Angelic hymn!
Winter Blessings
Click for meditationRegarding "Winter Blessings"
All it took was the
Meditative rhythm of the
Sound of light rain falling on
A small garden bed
Covered in old oak and
Maple leaves, to
Soothe the seas of
My mood, and then
Adding to this calming
Effect was the soft sound of the
Same rain hitting the
Mossy and mottled
Rocks of an adjacent,
Worn stone wall …
Reminding me once
Again that the gifts from
Creation actually
Occur all year-round,
Not just in spring or
Summer or fall,
But in winter when
First impulse might be
To don sackcloth
And ashes, but instead
The January drizzle
Wags its finger and says,
“No, not at all …!”
Leo Carroll
January 11, 2019
I hear
The pitter-patter of light
Rain on leaves, maple and oak and
What else lies hibernating between, and
I hear an even softer sound
As it lands on a nearby
Stone wall’s mottled moss,
Green and grey in blotches, an old
Coat from the colonial era,
But to me now like new
Wineskin cloth . . . and
Thus my ears listen intently,
Interpreting, soothed by
This revelation and nurture
Alive in my January garden,
When winter would
Otherwise harness me
To my mood, and it wouldn’t
Be until the first crocus’s
Song that I’d dare consider what
Spring’s freedom could
Loose.