Tags
@TheosTrek, Arbor, Flower, God, Honeysuckle, Invitation, Original Photography, Original Poetry, Plant, Vine, Welcome
Welcome!
There is an arbor as a gateway
to the path to our front door.
Honeysuckle vines – two kinds –
were planted, one each side, to
grow and twine themselves
over and between the lattice.
“Welcome,” says the sign, that
hangs beneath the transom
of the arbor. The sign now
hangs askew, tilted by the weight,
unequal, between the two vines.
Our “Welcome” seems a mite “off.”
We had a plan when we extended
our invitation to all comers. The
sweet-scented, golden wild honeysuckle
would climb up and through the painted
patterned wood, meeting, then knitting itself
with the orange blossoms of the hybrid.
Yet, as lovely as the arbor is,
as perfectly as our plan was realized
by the God of all growing things,
our “Welcome” does not hang straight.
Will visitors, invited or not, step back to ponder,
before ducking beneath the trailing vines?
Would we welcome them with delight –
in the warmth of the word when first
we offered our symbolic invitation, was it
merely obligation, off-the-cuff, and
insincere, expecting a grateful decline?
Is the “Welcome” as crooked as the sign?
The hybrid’s leg of the arbor bends away,
off-center, challenging us to re-set, shim,
equalize the sides, that would make straight
through our garden, a highway to our door,
We rehang the sign, shifting the chain that
holds our Damoclean “Welcome” in suspension.
We have left it alone, for now, at least,
Believing, as we throw open wide our
door, extending hands to all who would
chance the crooked, rocky path, beneath
the crooked sign, will make their way
and find their choice to come well-made.
A sign of Welcome, made of strung together
letters, heavy iron, weathered by time,
means little beyond the intention of
the one who hung it there, upon the
crooked arbor, a gateway to the door
of our desire that all might, well, come.
********************
Indeed, I welcome all comers, who chance by here to read
my odd conglomeration of pithy and/or silly, and/or wordy stuff.
I hope that what I’ve written here has not failed to meet the need
you feel perhaps to read my words, as long as there are just enough. . .
Reflections From a Cloudy Mirror 
Who wouldn’t be enticed to pass under an arch of flowering vines? Especially if they have an idea who waits on the otherside!
You know you are welcome, with always a place to stay! Please come and see us – quick – before we sell our house! (Ha-ha!) We’ve had it on the market for more than two years. We expect it to sell, for a price we want, but we aren’t anxious, and know it will happen in God’s time. God always seems to have the best timing. . .I just wish it was the same as mine! 😆
Nothing would stop me from, well, coming in to see you 🙂
It had better not! Even if we aren’t there right when you arrive, Princess* would let you in. . .(Justin wouldn’t care, or he’d just go hide somewhere.) 😉 😆
*She also would bark her head off and sound ferocious as she tries to lick you to death, bowing in submission, and wagging her tail. . . If we are there, however, it is another story entirely, which is what makes her a not-so-good watch dog. When we are here to back her up, she is very fierce (tee-hee), and will try to jump up on you and lick you to death. Bad combination. . .
Being one who has tinkered with that sign many times, the intent is indeed a warm welcome and, I believe, that all who enter beneath it will find open arms, minds, and hearts waiting to greet them.
Hubs
You betcha! 😆
Indeed…is the welcome as crooked as the sign?
Much to think about in this one.
Tim
A lot of “pro forma” words can be crooked. In our case, however, the crookedness is only in the sign! Glad you like this one, Tim!