The Patron of Third Street

<center>THE PATRON OF THIRD STREET
(for Lawrence Martin)</center>


Any given day you will find him
On the small expanse of his domicile
With shears or trowel in hand
Tending to Nature’s business

He nurtures his botanical menagerie
As a mother does a child:
Sometimes admonishing
Sometimes lamenting
Sometimes protecting
Sometimes weeding out the undesirable
Always loving, always surveying, always attentive

This is his corner of the world

Season after season we watch with childlike anticipation
To see what magic he will make:
Where there was once barren earth -
Now the crimson of the hibiscus, the variegated shades of green,
Powder blue hydrangea, scarlet geraniums
Every bush carefully trimmed, every blade of grass neatly manicured


He nurtures his people as he does his flowers
Watering and fertilizing our withering souls
He mobilizes each fledgling – placing them ever so carefully
Helping to awaken us from dormancy
He directs us to the sun
Giving us the nutrients we need to survive
Should winter takes its toll

This is his corner of the world

Each season a different garden, a different challenge
He has seen it all, now
And longs for the day when he can pass the patronage to the next generation of nurturers
Then he can sit back and offer blessings to Grace for enabling him to have borne forth
fruits abundant

Until then, each season we watch with childlike anticipation
To see what wonders he will make



©RAM/2002