Let me tell you the story about
Sunflower seeds and
The accidental garden that
Changed our pandemic world.
After we had been home in March
A few weeks, the wave of strangeness
Refused to recede. Waking and
Sleeping hours began to
Acquiesce to each other and
So I found myself often fully
Upright at 4 a.m. having
Been pondering life and
Toyblast already for hours.
The mornings were beginning to
Lengthen already and in the
Dim first gray I would perk
To the sound of the first songbird
Calling its friends to coffee.
When, in the dog days of summer 2019,
And so, I worried.
I had noticed the birds had disappeared.
What with so many hawks,
The great horned owl and snakes.
So, this spring, doing our strange
Masked shopping for annuals,
I remembered to pull in the
Largest bag of oiled sunflower seeds
And fill the feeder.
It didn’t take long for the
Finches and cardinals to
Swarm the little bed at
Our the front window.
They left their detritus of dinner
All over the ground–
Along in June came the sprouts.
Not weeds, but sweet, two-leaved
Buds scattered in the mulch.
And so they grew up with us,
First delicate, then mighty.
Truth and beauty
Turning towards the sun
As 2020 wore on–
An accidental garden
Leaning and beaming
And feeding us all
Summer again
And again.
