MONTAIGNE'S UNFINISHED GARDEN →

Some might find Montaigne’s quote—or my poem “My Unfinished Garden”—grim, but I don’t see it that way. There’s a real sense of freedom in acknowledging to yourself that the important tasks of life may never be “finished”—wrapped up with a bow or perfected. But that doesn’t mean the task is without value—indeed, it might be filled with value. I prefer to look at this issue in the way the early Talmudists did, in the Pirke Avot (Chapters of the Fathers): “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” The poem is from my book Stanzas on Oz and first appeared in the Alabama Literary Review.

David M. Katz

My Unfinished Garden

I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.--Montaigne

Planting in the morning sun,

I might keel over in the heat,

Or in mid-conversation,

Careless in my weedy garden.

I well might find the shadows sweet,

Planting in the morning sun.

I might depart when nearly done,

Alone at last with a single beet,

Or in mid-conversation.

I surrender to my resignation.

My nine bean rows are incomplete,

Gaping in the morning sun.

First seizure, then cessation:

The heart grown obsolete;

The dangling conversation.

Late afternoon is fine, or dawn

With shadows spreading at my feet,

Planting in the morning sun,

Or in mid-conversation.

Photo credit: "Michel de Montaigne" by Djof is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0