ninety four & four

Last week Ted and I stepped out of the house to go for a walk and there she was, our 94 year old neighbor in her front garden, sheers and hack saw in hand, pruning her roses and giant bird of paradise. Yesterday I babysat my friend's 4 year old. This is for them and the old wise one and spirited youth within us all.

a promise and a dream

She 

is a promise and a dream

impossible to hold 

the yearning of yesterday

and the story that has yet to be told

hold on

is her message 

spread it across the land

not yet is held 

in her small gentle hand

She 

is a reminder of unfiltered possibility

like a flower in the dessert

and a sprig shooting out of volcanic dust 

and when sunshine on the window

melts impossible ice 

as it must

keep moving

is her message 

spread it across the land

not yet is held 

along with the garden hose 

in her small gentle hand

She

is a memory 

of all held dear

our childhood blanket now tattered and torn

all that has been lost

and all

yet to be worn

smile with joy

is her message today

spread it across the land 

not yet is held 

along with the garden hose and light 

in her small gentle hand

She 

is the book 

read feverishly into the night

hoping each second to see the great light

her unwritten stories leap off the page

she knows that artistry is her birthright 

at every age

She 

is a spark of tomorrow

and a memory of someday

standing in the garden shining a light 

she is our tomorrow and yesterday

grasping the essence of being

with all her might

poem and photo

©2025

by Lynne Harris Bernstein