Tulip bud by Elizabeth Keating -Jones
Epiphany
In the garden, Hildegard sings
of the soft hills
curved as a mother’s breast,
The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all,
for contained in her
are the seeds of all.
She sings of trees and plants
ferns, herbs, flowers and stones.
The greening power of God’s love
surges through her
palpable holiness
surging with vitality.
Hildegard learns
names of the plants, herbs
their healing properties.
The sisters’ garden explodes
a paint box come to life
spilling across a landscape.
Richardis follows her
discerns culinary and medicinal plants
bubbles intensely,
alive with the world.
Photo taken by Elizabeth Keating-Jones in her spring back-yard garden, which we began while visiting in the past autumn.