GrooveLily

Copyright © 2006 by Milburn & Vigoda

GROUNDSKEEPER’S SON
Pruning the brambles and branches between us
Planting the dahlias and daisies around
A daffodil-daylily-dandelion border
And you are some kind of arboreal Venus
Peaceful perfection in petal-soft gown
Showers of springtime are sprouting new
seedlings as shadows grow shorter
And everything changes but you

I trim back the ivy we planted together
So there will be nothing obstructing your view
Of the roses and robins and redwoods—
remember
Hiding and seeking in hedgerows and heather
Under a sky of cerulean blue
Sunshine suffuses the season from solstice clear
through to September
And everything changes but you
Everything changes but

You stay the same
Here in the glade
Always in bloom
Never to fade

Never to hear
The hummingbird’s hum
Never to know
The man I have become

Chill in the air as the ground starts to harden
Leaves change from greens into yellows
and reds
With no one to see in this palace of sleepers
This is the last time I’ll tend to your garden
I am too old to be planting new beds
Flowers and field mice and grapevines and
graying assistant groundskeepers

Everything changes but you
Everything changes but you