Rosemary's garden is the Findhorn Ecovillage
of Southern Illinois.
Scores of roses' heady perfume fills your nose
and passion flowers fill your eyes with awe.
Birdsong's all around you, and there are
always butterflies.
Skinks bask in the sunlight on the walls of
her garage, and
don't flee your approach because they aren't
afraid here.
It will not surprise you that a possum lives
beneath the house
and daily gets the scrapings from breakfast
and dinner plates.
The important thing to know, though, is the
turtle.
Rosemary stopped her car on her commute one
day
(it
will not surprise you that Rosemary taught creative writing at a prison)
to collect the turtle, circling on the
roadside, confused, disabled from a hit-and-run,
to care for and protect it while it healed.
Now blind on one side, the turtle learned
to compensate, to use its other senses,
to move again in straight lines.
It may surprise you that when Rosemary comes
home, she drops her sweater on the floor,
and the turtle emerges from beneath the sofa
and nestles in the sweater.
At bedtime the turtle follows, and
while Rosemary reads in bed, the turtle rests
contentedly beside her.
Might that surprise you from a reptile rescued
from the wild?
The important thing to know, though, is
You get what you give.
Thea
Chesley