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