The Gardener

"It's not work. It just requires
Constancy," she says, perhaps
Being allusive, perhaps
Not. I prefer to think not,
To let our conversation
Remain as seeming artless
As this bear-country  garden

Beside the meltwater creek
Drawn from the ringing mountains.
Knotted, fecund cherry trees
Left behind by Doukhobors,
Dot a flowery greensward,
And a hand-hewn driftwood fence
Encloses rampant fruit rows.

Billowing sheer white curtains
And vine-heavy trellises
Circle the umber cottage
That gives the scene a center.
The effect is fairy book.
"Someone magical lives here,"
Suggests the illustration.

The suggestion is correct--
A proper gardener lives here,
Enhancing what the mountain
Ice and rain and snows allow,
Invisibly maintaining,
Season by season, what life
Demands to shade its underside.