In the Garden

by Peter Saint-Andre

Encampment River Trail, May 27th, 2000

In the garden of my life
I'm done with anger, done with strife.
I cultivate my own few joys
far from this culture's buzzing noise.

Colonnade and marketplace,
fame's small change and money's race,
academe's cold haughty tower --
have no meaning, hold no power.

Letting go of shoulds and oughts,
I concentrate on greener thoughts
and find as I fulfill my soul
that things spin calmly in control,

that though events conspire still,
they tend to bend towards my will.
No greater cause achieves the measure
than that of my own reasoned pleasure.