What Else?

One of the amazing gifts of wintering on Pine Island is the variety of plant life that flourishes in the sunshine and warmth of Southwestern Florida.

People (and plants) can be so very creative. People and plants can also be quite destructive.

This succulent was planted in the center of a landscape boulder and placed close to the road so the colors and textures playfully peek out, as if saying hello to passers by!

Succulents are plentiful. I took this photo a few days ago and sent it to Davey and Eli, Canadian friends who are not sure if they will be able to come down this season due to COVID.

The trees are also quite different here, like this “strangler” fig. Many varieties of strangler trees exist in the tropics, and they can damage or even kill the host tree.

Citrus trees certainly don’t grow in Michigan but they do thrive in this climate. Citrus blossoms are very aromatic. You can often smell the fragrance before seeing the trees!

This week, a special citrus tree was removed from the yard at the former home of my friend and fellow-poet, Katey. Katey’s home on Skipper Lane here in Cherry Estates was the first home we wintered in, way back in 2013. We were fortunate to stay in that home for three winters. Katey and I were both sad about this tree’s removal.

The following poem is a tribute to that special tree and an invitation for a more mindful living with respect to all sentient beings:

What Else?

It was obvious new owners were making changes
My intention was to leave a note on your door
Asking permission to harvest the lemons

Now the haunting question remains:
Had the note been written,
Might a precious meyer lemon tree have been saved?

Your lips will never taste a meyer lemon pie
Nectar squeezed from the fruit
Reverently picked from the branches of your meyer lemon tree
Now no other lips will curl in delight
From that sweet fruit either

Carefully shaking the trunk
Clarence taught me the secret to the best pies
Gather only those lemons that fall
Ready, succulent, ‘ripe for the picking’
Willingly releasing their hold on the branch
And offering their juices

For six winters I have known
THIS meyer lemon tree
As it predictably produced
Culinary joy for so many

Your “unwanted vegetation”
Now cleared
Left as yard waste
Was the mother of such taste!

What else is unrecognized as precious, delicious, nourishing?
What else has been heedlessly discarded?
What else offers itself without recognition?
What else awaits honoring even now….