The Gardener's Prayer by Ruth Collie

"The Gardener's Prayer" is a short devotional poem in which the speaker addresses God directly, offering a tended garden as a plea and a proof of spiritual devotion. The speaker asks that the garden itself serve as an intercessor, a "gentle advocate," standing before God's throne on their behalf. Its fairness and orderliness become a confession: through the garden's "sweet serenity," the speaker admits to personal faults and a life that "has gone awry," contrasting human imperfection with the garden's disciplined beauty. The poem builds its argument through natural imagery arranged beneath "Your arch of sky" — soft wind, tall trees, bright blossoms, and grass are all described as striving to please God, mirroring the speaker's own effort to please a divine judge. The labor of gardening becomes a form of penance and purification: daily weeding stands in for the daily casting-away of sin, and the speaker asks to be judged "shriven," or absolved, on the strength of this diligent, patient work. Celestial and light imagery reinforces the poem's devotional tone: sunbeams are invited to "come to play" in the garden, moonbeams "stray" across its paths, and stars "look down from heaven," suggesting that the garden exists under continuous divine observation and, implicitly, divine approval. The garden is offered as "handiwork" — a deliberate echo of the idea that human cultivation, like divine creation, can be an act of worship and craftsmanship offered up for God's "delight." The poem closes on an image of white lilies standing "unafraid" within God's sight, a symbol of purity and confident faith rather than guilt or fear. In the final plea, the speaker asks the flowers themselves — and by extension the whole garden — to intercede and request pardon on their behalf, closing the circle of the poem's central conceit: that a well-tended garden can plead a soul's case before God, translating the discipline and beauty of cultivation into spiritual grace and forgiveness.

By Ruth Collie · First published 1927 · Genre: Prayer, Devotional Poetry, Religious Poetry · 191 words

First lines

I pray You, let this garden be a gentle advocate for me before Your / throne. Lord, it is fair and orderly and through its sweet serenity, / my faults I own. My life at times has gone awry, but here beneath / Your arch of sky, the pattern's true. The wind that softly passes / by; tall trees, bright blossoms, grass, all try to pleasure You. / With zest I've weeded day by day. Judge that my sins I cast away and / am now shriven. And here Your sunbeams come to play, and moonbeams / on this path do stray. Your stars look down from heaven. Will You / not take this pattern bright as handiwork for Your delight and bless / this little garden? See how the lilies tall and white stand unafraid / within Your sight, and ask, for me, Your pardon.

• Open reader

Genres

• Prayer — The piece is structured as a direct address to God requesting divine blessing, pardon, and intercession, with the speaker explicitly positioning the garden as an advocate before the divine throne.
• Devotional Poetry — Combines verse form with spiritual devotion, featuring personal repentance, confession of sins, and explicit plea for grace and absolution from God.
• Religious Poetry — Employs poetic verse to explore theological themes including sin, redemption, divine judgment, heaven, and the relationship between humanity and the sacred.
• Nature Poetry — Extensively uses natural imagery—garden, trees, lilies, wind, sunbeams, moonbeams, stars, grass, and blossoms—as both literal subject and spiritual metaphor.

Tags

gardening · spirituality · meditation · nature · prayer · inspirational · personal growth · wellness · mindfulness · botanical · faith · contemplative

What this Textopian page supports

The Gardener's Prayer is listed on Textopian as a poem by Ruth Collie, dated 1927 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Poem
• Author: Ruth Collie
• Date: 1927 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Prayer, Devotional Poetry, Religious Poetry, Nature Poetry, Lyric Poetry
• Length: 191 words
• Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Gardener's Prayer by Ruth Collie
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
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More by Ruth Collie

• The Old Sampler (1927)
• Everyday Religion (1927)
• The Thoroughbred Mongrel (1927)
• The Week Round (1927)
• Her Troublesome Husband (1927)
• The String Bag (1927)
• Life Grows Fairer (1927)
• To the First-Born (1927)
• All works by Ruth Collie