Letting Go: Garden Writer Elizabeth Lawrence on the Death of her Father

"Autumn asks that we prepare for the future — that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping.
But it also asks that we learn to let go — to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness."

Late October, 1935, Duke Hospital in Durham

The garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence visited her father in the hospital.

Her mother, Bessie, accompanied her.

 

Elizabeth wrote the following poem in a notebook during her visit:

My father lies dying,
And all that he has said
Begins to sprout,
Begins to grow.
Is branching overhead.

 

My father lies dying,
And all that he has said
Will bud and blossom and bear fruit
Long after he is dead.

 

Samuel Lawrence lived another nine months after Elizabeth wrote those words.

He passed away on July 16, 1936.

 

I thought of Elizabeth Lawrence visiting her dad in the hospital during the fall of 1935 when I came across this quote by the psychologist and writer Bonaro Overstreet:

Autumn asks that we prepare for the future — that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping.

But it also asks that we learn to let go — to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness.

 


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Elizabeth Lawrence Welcomes at the Garden Gate
Elizabeth Lawrence Welcomes at the Garden Gate
Bonaro Overstreet
Bonaro Overstreet

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