Some plants love the sun
Some die in the sun
I water them regardless, after the sun fades in the afternoon
Sometimes the leaves hold the water drops
And I wonder if it will make it to the soil
Soil seems to be waiting with her mouth wide open
Looking up at the leaves
Eyes squinting in the big bright December Australian Sun
I can feel their rejoice when I water them all around
Enough for everyone to soak and drink
They dance and scream in joy
They let out the smell of happiness
Smell of mother earth, dust and freshness
Leaves can barely contain their emotions
Even the grass seem to open up and suddenly smile
When hit by a stream of water coming out of the hose
Many times they died, and resurrected
Patched bald, muddy and only brown earth
Then lush and green next
I hold the power!
My little son also holds the power
To make a difference, although he is still so young
Though he does not understand or realize yet
His little actions of watering the little plants, his little new pets
Keeps our little spot on the planet green and healthy
Little pomegranate tree is starting to grow tall, so is the lemon
Taller than him now, and still growing strong
My son, he runs around them, squeezes around them and the fence
I can see how much he cares for his little plants
As young as himself most of them, only sprouting and newbies to the world
He even digs and feeds soil the nutrients
Knows that ants, spiders and earthworms have their homes and families too
Even the cat next door has somewhere he belongs
The link is already strong
With mother earth, with the planet, with the earthworms, bees, insects
He squirms at the spider webs
Specially in the summer when they cast their nets everywhere
He knows weeds are the bad guys, learned behaviour from the parents sadly
But he is kind to them too, as they also give out beautiful flowers
And he knows not to waste precious water, learned from his mother
I know he knows it is all part of our home, our little backyard
Free from invasions of iPads and phone for a while
Free from the YouTube and apps for a while
Just free and carefree in nature for a while, really real world, the true one
Little buddy knows that Sun is harsh here, but trees give shades, so cool and nice
Sun is harsh but we all need him to survive, love him in the winter always
We share with them all – spiders, flies, bees, flowers, plants, flower pots, earthworms, soil, weeds, water..
All in this together, somewhere there, lies my world.
Ravi Tandukar 