May 11: Neat But Not Beautiful

For years, our across-the-street neighbor 

Nancy worked almost every day spring

through autumn keeping her front yard 

meticulously beautiful with lovely beds 

of flowers and flowering shrubs and trees 

all well-groomed, neat and trimmed.

She puttered for hours and spent at least

as much time pausing and looking as she did

digging, trimming, fertilizing and pruning.

Since she died a few years ago, her daughter

has taken over caring for her mom’s yard.

She spends hours doing yard work, but

she seldom pauses to look as Nancy did,

so everything looks neat but not beautiful.

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