Dorothy's Garden

A song I wrote the day after seeing Dorothy Mullen for the last time. She was a kindred spirit who lived a full life and left a legacy to live on after her, including two gardens and two nonprofit organizations. Well known for her gardens--both the one in her front yard and the one she started and tended with help from students, teachers and parents for many years at Riverside Elementary School--she was hard-wired to garden. It was as basic to her nature as breathing. She, Karla Cook and others founded the Princeton Schools Garden Cooperative that established gardens in all four elementary schools, and more importantly got the schools to integrate gardening and the importance of healthy food into their curriculums. Dorothy also founded the Suppers Program, which uses healthy food to cure maladies that aren't getting cured any other way. She tells her remarkable story at DorothyMullen.org. Check out the Suppers Program at TheSuppersProgram.org.
Song lyrics:
Take a walk in Dorothy's garden,
In the springtime in Dorothy's garden.
Sleepy seeds in the dirt so mellow,
Dreaming flowers of white and yellow.
Come and see in the garden, Dorothy's garden,
Kale and peas and carrots.
And some peace you will find there,
Always find where the weeds are a feint memory.
There are children in Dorothy's garden,
Finding free figs in Dorothy's garden.
In the strawberry patch they linger.
Quiet joy their presence brings her.
And the bees on the asters, flying past her--
She is the master gardener.
And the okra and sunflower feel her love
As they grow towards the sun far above.
Someone's learning in Dorothy's garden.
Worms are churning in Dorothy's garden.
Plants are turning in Dorothy's garden
Into Suppers from Dorothy's garden.
And the roots they will roam, always finding a home,
In the loam, under Dorothy's garden.