My most recent poem…
Enclosed
Today I feel like Nephi,
Encompassed by my sins.
Weaknesses, temptations strong,
My heart feels Satan closing in.
My spirit feels the flaxen cord,
Get tighter every hour.
I feel so lost and too far gone,
My soul begins to cower.
But then the thought comes to my mind,
The name of Jesus Christ.
He has the power to break my bonds,
For freedom He was sacrificed.
As He comes in, forgives my sins,
He helps me see my strengths.
He opens up His loving arms,
Encircling me in His embrace.
Encompassed by Satan,
Encircled, embraced by Jesus.
Invited to be enclosed,
One imprisons and one frees us.
Satan’s is a prison,
Filled with death and strife.
Jesus’s is a garden,
Filled with growth and life.
………………
This poem was inspired by a quote that I read in another gardening book, and a different section of scripture…
“The enclosed garden is a haven of beauty. A modern version of hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden of the soul, is very much needed as a model of design for our busy, cluttered lives. We need a garden where we can escape the stresses of urban life, a designed space to step into to forget about traffic, work, and deadlines. We can create an oasis where every sense is brought back to its fullness. This is the modern potager garden – a garden of any size – that fits into our urban or suburban worlds, where we can find healing restoration for our souls and unique specialty delights for our stomachs. Gardens revive us. The very act of tilling, planting, harvesting, and then preparing food strengthens and deeply satisfies us. It is even more rewarding when this garden is part of our homes, where we can enjoy its spiritual and physical bounty every day.”
“Islamic gardens embraced the concept of representing paradise on earth through the enclosed garden. These gardens also contained linear canals of water that represented the rivers flowing from the Garden of Eden, dividing the garden into four quadrants.”
“In the Middle Ages, a garden was simply an enclosed space. It was often a simple wattle fence that separated the outside world and formed the garden. In fact, the wattle fence itself, formed with flexible and abundant osier wood, became a symbol for a garden. The words yard, garth, garden, and the French jardin all come from the same Indo-European root word gher, meaning to grasp or enclose.”
(Jennifer R. Bartley, Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook, pg. 20, 22, 24)
……………
“I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. … O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.” (2 Nephi 4:18, 33)
Also, I hadn’t ever heard the term hortus conclusus before so I loved learning more about it.
