Secret Gardens

My grandmother's house is still there

But it isn't the same

A plain wooden cottage

A patch of brown lawn

And a fence that hangs standing

And sighing in the Seattle rain

I drive by with strangers

And wish they could see what I see

A tangle of summer birds

Flying in sunlight

A forest of lillies

An orchard of apricot trees

Secret Gardens of the heart

Where the flowers bloom forever

I see you shining through the night

In the ice and snow of winter

Great grandfather's farm is still there

But it isn't the same

The barn is torn down

And the fences are gone

The Idaho wind blows

The topsoil away every Spring

I still see the ghosts

Of the people I knew long ago

Inside the old kitchen

They bend and sigh

My life passed them up

And the world passed them by

Secret Gardens of the heart

Where the old stay young forever

I see you shining through the night

In the ice and snow of winter

But most of all

It is me that has changed

And yet I'm still the same

That's me at the weddings

That's me at the graves

Dressed like the people

Who once looked so grown-up and brave

I look in the mirror

Throught the eyes of the child that was me

I see willows bending

The season is Spring

And the silver blue sailing birds

Fly with the sun on their wings

Secret Gardens of the heart

Where dreams live on forever

I see you shining through the night

In the ice and snow of winter