Has it Been Too Long?

A poem to myself

Has it been too long

since you worked with your hands

in your very own garden?

Since you lifted those tools

and felt muscles harden?

You have been strong

in your writing and reading

but how are you now

at your hoeing and weeding?

Then take up the rake

and those gloves and your spade

And take up the time

before daylight fades.

And may your bones stay

agile and supple,

and may the soil ever

be eager and fertile.