Last week, I emailed Tim Gruner, our head gardener, to thank him for bringing me on to help out in the garden this fall. He emailed me back, and ended the email with this:
“As cold sets in I begin envisioning all the dormant energy waiting underground, in the buds, resting, restoring and preparing for a new season of growth. Imagine if you could actually see the energy; it would be a marvelous glow. That’s how I manage the cold and grey!”
—Tim Gruner, Garden Curator & Head of Horticulture
I loved his words so much I decided to write a poem inspired by them. Here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.
Buds beneath snow
Buds beneath snow
the dormant, the resting
the energy building;
It has fallen, for now,
decayed, retreated,
faded;
Fallen, and rotted,
and left—
bare, or hidden,
beneath snow, beneath earth.
Underground, out of sight,
resting,
preparing,
all winter, as the days march on,
day after day of cold,
each day expected
each day known
by the plants, for they
have been here much, much longer
have known the cold, were born for it
born to weather it;
they are calm, they rest, they build,
up and up,
each day perhaps the energy is higher,
slightly higher,
slightly closer,
slightly more ready…
to burst.
Up, up, up! Fanning out, flowering.
The green first, and quickly followed
by the purple! the blue! the red orange yellow!
Exquisite, what a joy, what a lark! The abundance,
the beauty, the return—
return to air, fresh air, the breezes
on leaves, on stalks, on petals—
the sunshine! Soaking in the sun, after months
of thirst—
the sun again!
For now, we rest,
we restore,
we prepare,
we hide—
but imagine
if you could actually see
the underground energy…
what a marvelous glow!
That is how we manage,
the grey and the cold.
—Matt Eighmy
