A Thank You

To our

Early Girl

who still

BLOSSOMS

The sunlight softly touches her, urging life back into her fragile, wrinkled limbs.

She's trying...oh, she's trying!...to hold on to Life.

With her whole being she reaches up and out, defying the Autumn,

striving against the Death that Winter must bring.

Her life has been one of service, of giving joyously

from what she has been given,

sharing her bounty with any willing to accept it.

She seems so tired now.

But, still writing on the pages of her life, she admits to no ending yet;

she will not concede!

Day by day she finds yet more treasures to offer;

and for all that is taken from her she is thankful in the giving

and grateful that Nature still allows her to share its gifts.

I see her fragility.

I see, sadly, the ending that she cannot accept.

Oh how I will miss her natural beauty,

her generosity,

the special talents she embodies

that have blessed us with the fruits of her labors.

Her book is nearing its final chapter;

what a beautiful story it has been!

She is not resigned to leaving us.

Even now she is busy about her tasks,

pushing herself to produce more...still more...

working against the natural order that rules our lives.

And the Nature that cannot...will not...make exceptions to the Rule of Life...

bends that Rule for her, it seems.

For I can see that Hand that came to take her,

perhaps for just a little while supporting her instead.

And I can see... and wonder at it... a greening, a renewal of promise.

I smile at the blossoming, knowing the joy it brings her.

Whether those blossoms will become the fruits she yearns to give,

only Nature knows.

But for now, the promise is enough for her,

and she rests content,

here in the late summer sunshine.