Tag Archives: democracy in America

REPLANTING DEMOCRACY

Leonoras Widow’s Tears, from Breck’s bulbs, planted 4-24-2025

The Holland roots arrived today.

They still need to soak

before I can plant them

deep enough to grow.

What Leonora’s tears will bring

to the garden yet this Spring,

I do not yet know.

The soil is as dark as ever.

This is no reason to fear.

It does not mean it lacks

the ability to accept seeds that grow

into new ideas, new joys, new hopes

beyond our current capacity to know

what wonders in freedom’s garden

will seek light, grow upright and glow

amid the new plantings we start today,

across new paths and waterways,

across neighbors’ fields 

on new roads and byways

joining the others we already know.

Together we continue to sow

new seeds of freedom, perhaps hybridized

alongside the naturalized and native plants

that make our yards, our streets,

our neighborhoods, our nation states,

our very planet come alive again

in even more fruitful and beautiful ways.

I plant with hope this day and every day.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

DARK TIMES

Photo by Raphael Brasileiro on Pexels.com

In the dark times

neither day nor night

bring about right.

We are forced

into our interior

and rely upon insight

and the subtle feel

of what our senses say is real.

We come to a stop,

to listen and recall

where we stand,

leaning against the wall

of remembered balance.

Perhaps we lean a bit,

Perhaps we sway

before trying to find our way

back into the light.

Standing still is no solution.

Going ahead despite our dread

of what can happen in the dark

is the only thing to be done.

It is the only way to bring back

brighter and happier days,

and nights when we can sleep

knowing we are safe.

Take my hand.

Together, we shall find our way.

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Filed under POETRY