A Poem by Michael
            Dunn


            


            the gardener

            
awakening

            before the dawn

            
an octogenarian

            eagerly rises, prepared

            
by small prayer

            he departs from his cell-

            
some weeding, some pruning

            soon will follow-

            
chapel, light breakfast

            the order of day.

            
outside sacred walls,

            under straw hat shade

            
he toils, he tends

            to God's garden-

            
the greatest of care

            for detail, does he pay-

            
not a chore

            but a labor of love.