Love like the horse chestnut loves carbon,
like the sun isn’t millions of miles away
or doomed. Love like a blue fir amongst white pines,
like a wide shovel opening the earth. Rewind
your favorite moments over early dinners:
the correct identification of an olive tree, climbing
65 feet up a fat trunk, turning backpack pockets
into houses for leaves. Love as eagerly as sprouting seeds,
as hungry as a goat up an argan tree. Love like you are
spotting a red squirrel for the first time. Relish in your blooming
knowledge of Latin, wood chopping, propagation. Love as easy as
hibiscus roots drink rain. Breathe in the smell
of earth-drenched boots. Savor the quick-flowing photos of pheasants and hedgehogs and newts.
Live like a pioneer species. Love like sempervirents: evergreen.
Love like every green thing ever planted
will live long and never burn
- Christina Thatcher, How to Love a Gardener