Here it is as an essay, poem to come soon:
The Lavender Labyrinth Named Laverinth, on My Ex Husbands Farm
The
180 small plants are finishing their first year after a hard winter.
The lavender, or more exactly the Lavandin Phenomenal hybrid (Lavandula x intermedia 'Phenomenal')
are now the size of cabbages, but soft and prickly as fir needles. In a
couple of years they should reach above my knees. They flowered earlier
in the summer. The silvery green leaves and stems release a gentle
floral and bitter camphor scent when I rub them with my finger. I
remember the same aroma rising from my grandmothers dresser drawers
where velvet gloves, buttressed girdles, yellowing handkerchiefs, and
partial dentures rested in honorable rows. My husband Jim and I follow
the path of clover through four quadrants in eight rings; our feet the
beating rhythm that speeds the crickets and briefly flattens the white
and purple clover blossoms. This is no maze where all but one path dead
ends, too grim for contemplation, this is one path to the center of all
things, under a shifting sky of cloud and early September light.
The
labyrinth is next to a quiet country road. As we turn the bends, our
elemental spirit, the dog Sadie, at first follows on the tarp covered
curves, where small bushes of lavender poke out of diamond cuts. She
takes off and wants to cross the street to investigate the neighbors
horses, and we call her back. She bounds, the size of a barn cat, long
body leaping on short legs. She finds a musky spot between lavender and
clover, and rolls in it, her black and tan limbs upside down dancing the
joy of being.
We
talk and pace, taking photos, watching the sunlight and clouds
alternately illuminate and cloak fields and barns, while our hosts bend
and weed the 2,908 lavender plants (Lavendin Grosso, with less floral
scent and a higher oil yield) in the fields on the hill behind their
stone farmhouse. Once the plants mature, this will be the largest or
second largest lavender farm in New York State. Dave, Diane, and our
daughter Natalie tend the straight lines with mowers, scissors, and
gloved hands.
What
should I contemplate in this curving artery of plants? My life plan no
longer numbers in decades...I may have several years, or months, but the
hope of a cure, or stasis, keeps me living less elegiacally. I embrace
Dianne's wish I take a contemplative walk. I can accept there is this
day, this turn on the path, this scent of evaporating dew released from
leaf and earth. The air tastes fresh and the view is clear. My loving
companion is just behind me. Our shoes and pant cuffs grow damp. The dog
sniffs her journey. The crickets declare, "here now, here now," to lure
a mate before the frost. They don't know this is their one season,
they're hardwired to fiddle their desire. The sun heats my neck and
shade cools it. Around and around, I begin to hear folk songs I once
listened to on vinyl records. The Celtic music we play when we're
feeling romantic. And around. I think of The Secret Garden, a novel that
made a garden one of the main characters and made me want both children
and roses to thrive. I hope to see this labyrinth grow to its full
strength, just as I hope the Allen's make a success of their livelihoods
here in the Adirondacks. I want my grandchildren to run or crawl
through this clover, even if I don't get to greet them at the end or
lead them in at the beginning. It may seem impossible I am friends with
my ex and his wife, we defy convention. They are so better suited to
each other than we were. Me a farmer? Never. My husband, my Jim, is in
synch with me. We claim membership in the artist class, bohemians, or as
my grandmother said, lives of genteel poverty. I have no regrets, Dave
and I raised daughters who have become admirable women. We have good
partnerships. Natalie and Caitlin will walk these pathways alone or with
their loves. The same sun will warm their arms and ears.
Whatever
makes the clover spring back from footsteps is strong in me. My
fingernails are tree rings showing bands for each round of chemo. Each
time I must recover strength, appetite, sleep, laughter, and a desire to
walk, write, draw, and take photos. Each time I must travel this path
and recenter myself. Leave regret at the entry, not worry about what
waits in the future, feel my weight shift from foot to foot, breathe in
and out, until end of the path appears.
 |
| Laverinth: a lavender labyrinth for meditative walking. |
 |
| My dog Sadie bounding through the labyrnth. |
 |
| A cricket sings from the safety of the lavender leaves. |
Posts
