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# The Gardener
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/the_gardener/
- Published: 2008-12-02T18:42:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:03:14.000Z
- Description: We have pitched an innocent man against the thousand blades of grass. Once a week the battle is waged; each green sword glints with dew.
- Author: Andy
- Tags: Be The Change, poetry, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

We have pitched an innocent man against the  
thousand blades of grass.  
Once a week the battle is waged;  
each green sword glints with dew.

But our man is well armed: we have given  
him motors, gasoline, blades faster  
than the wind, and so he goes trampling  
because our yard needs taming:  
He leaves the lawn strewn with  
wilting corpses—their rot attracts  
a pair of curious bluebirds.

For the moment victory smells like sprinklers  
and empty fields.  
For the moment our house is in order.

Then a rainstorm soaks the earth  
like an oil-well run amok,  
wreaks havoc on gutters and sewers,  
floods the streets, knocks down trees,  
holes us up in our homes,  
where through windows we observe  
hope erase carnage.

A week passes and the proud grass  
again waves beneath the wind.  
The grass has a human spirit that  
grows endlessly, sprouts from the soil,  
and wonders why we bother to hire  
mercenaries to fight a war  
that must never come to an end.