Ode To Elizabeth Bowman

Ode to Elizabeth Bowman Spirit of the wind Blow for us Cool our fiery kin Settle down Underneath a cloud Feel you tired feet She was golden She was pure She now lays amidst the moors A pixie A sprite with dragonfly wings If you listen to the earth You can still hear her sing A guardian for the garden Natures peony fleet Echoes in the Bee Balm That dance beneath her feet Till the roots in the bed Lay petals by her head Wash her feet in spearmint Bathed in Basil jubilance A teacher to me Amongst yellow daisies Working and weeding Edging and seeding The Iris like an eye The Canna like a finger Artemisias daughter American folk singer The lavender will shuffle As the Jenny will creep The Lillies are reaching While Chamomiles asleep St. Peter's wort Welcomes you As the Heliotrope kneels Heucherah's copious beside Goldenseal A women A worker A friend A leader The Primrose eden prays Nearest blue Columbines Purple Emperor Sedums Below the Clematis climb A writer A poet A lady Who knows it Existential Transcendental Beautifully mental Sentimental Senecios Ragworts and groundsels You were always counsel To our earthly elementals I mourn for the gardens Butterfly bushes are quiet The fireflies are beaming In the red Begonias riot You left in the summer When all is in bloom Birds pursue chirping You're now the sunsets hue Forever a flower Queen Elizabeth's grace No gardener or botanist Could take her place Evergreen Erica Heathers and heath Cynthia and I planted In our oasis this week So long farewell My mentor my friend You taught us all how To mulch and to blend I'm blessed to have seen The gardens you kept The beds of Carex Where Ajuga slept Alone I won't find you You're sheltered with love Praised from us humans Through clouds up above In nature you dwell Moon vines specifically White Morning Glory Flowering eternally Galanthus Nivalis The initial bloom in Spring Daffodils to Chrysanthemums You've attained angel wings Today the gardens weep