tears

Why I Need My Garden

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In the window

above my kitchen sink,

one golden bloom rises on a

toothpick-thin stem

in a tiny pottery vase.

A black-eyed Susan.

I lean closer,

admire her petals,

her dark brown center.

It’s like looking into the smile of God.

Outdoors, pink coneflowers sway

beside magenta coleus leaves

blanket-stitched along the edges

in bright yellow-green.

The smile of God.

Yellow gazania bloom bright,

happily resilient in the heat.

Red-purple impatiens overspread their pot,

preferring the shade.

The smile of God.

I also know the tears of God.

Anyone with eyes to see

and an open heart

feels the sadness,

knows the tears.

So many.

Too many.

That’s why I need my garden—

gazania and impatiens,

cornflower and coleus,

black-eyed Susans.

They remind me

that God does smile.

They give me hope

that we, too—

all shapes, colors, and

types of us—

can flower and flourish

in beauty and peace.

If only we will.

We, too, can be the smile of God.

-kh-

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

‎Text and photos © 2024 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Afraid I Might Fall

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Sometimes there are no words,

there’s only sitting in silence

and letting the tears come.

It feels massively important to lose

a father.

I’m left with roots running deep,

but the trellis is gone,

the one that held me up,

the one too often taken for granted.

There is now a breeze at my back

where the support used to be,

and I’m afraid I might fall,

but I am finding I’m strong enough

to stand

on my own,

and I realize that all these years

I have been strong.

And all these years,

he knew.

-kh-

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Deep Gift of a Flower

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“To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

– William Wordsworth, “Intimations of Immortality” –

 

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.