My pastor posted this to our church newsletter as she waited for her granddaughter’s imminent birth, and, at the same time, received news that a lifelong friend had suddenly died.

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 forgive us our cultivation and fondly
remember where their roots are.
Let us give thanks:
For generous friends . . . with hearts . . .
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 throughout 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, 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.
-Max Coots