I knew this girl one time

 

We were young together

 

From the same side of the tracks

 

The wrong side

 

The harshness of life showed there

 

On every cheaply built structure

 

And on every barely living soul

 

The minimization effort

 

To make it all appear otherwise

 

Was abandoned a long time ago

 

No one there cared anymore

 

Especially about what those

 

Who only care about how our presence

Affected them

Thought and said

 

This girl that I knew

 

A product of nature

 

She sought

 

To make her world alright

 

Interesting to observe how she went about it

 

She blamed her dad for all that was wrong

 

And praised her mother

 

Dead and gone

 

For anything she thought was right

 

“No matter from where the seed come

 

It’s the one who tend the field

 

Nourish the fruit

 

What you become and what you do

 

Depends, largely

 

On where you take root

 

And who the hell is watering the garden”

 

And then he’d spit on the ground

 

Shaking his head and looking down

 

That’s what her daddy used to say

 

When he was angry with her

 

I reckon there was a message in there

 

Somewhere

 

From what I understand he wasn’t her REAL daddy

 

And as it went

 

That girl got out of there

 

She has never even been back to visit

 

At least

 

That’s what I understand

 

Last time I was out that way

 

I took a walk

 

I saw that ol’ man

 

Amidst his rather barren yard that day

 

An accidental bush with one tiny bud grew

 

In a large expanse of not quite so green grass

 

That man

 

Was digging up the plant

 

I said “hello” as I walked up

 

He nodded but didn’t glance my way

 

I watched him work a while

 

And in a bit

 

He looked up with a weary smile

 

He says, “hey-

 

Why don’t you take this plant to my girl?

 

I guarantee you- it would never grow here.”

 

He looked down and spit and shook his head

 

I think he was trying not to cry

 

So was I