Monday, March 09, 2009

Giving Thanks for Max Coots

Twenty or so years ago, the Rev. Max Coots, whose passion was gardening wrote this beloved and much used meditation. Max died last week at the age of 81. We remember and give thanks!

LET US GIVE THANKS

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:
For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgve us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:
For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us that we've had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn, and the
others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts
and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends,
as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash,
as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;
For old friends nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;
And, finally, for those friends now gone, who like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.

Let Us Give Thanks
from View from a Tree
--Max Coots
Rest in Peace, Max. You fed us well...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A wonderful reminder.

I love this piece - there was a service for all ages using it that was done that had all of the items brought forward by the children in the RE program and put in a huge display in the middle of the "in the round" setup. This involved some logistical work by the RE director to bring it off, but it made it so powerfully visual and tactile for the children and the adults both.

Big potatoes, and a branch of brussles sprouts, and a cauliflower, and so on.

Kevin Weedon said...

A friend of mine reads this poem aloud at the start of every Thanksgiving meal. It's come to mean so much to me, and I was saddened to hear that Max has passed.

Thank you for sharing this with us all!