Northfield, MA – Nick Fleck died on Friday, June 12th, at the age of ninety. He taught high school English for forty years, first in New Hampshire, then in Massachusetts. Nick wrote, “My goal was to help each student gain confidence and to increase her ability to think, to feel, and to think about her feelings.” One of his students told him, “You were the kind of teacher I wish every high school kid could have. You helped shape my life in ways I never would have imagined.” Nick loved birding, hiking, poetry, Thoreau’s journals, and classical music. Nick will be loved and missed by his wife, Margot; his son, Michael, and his partner, Emily; and his daughter, Robyn, her husband, Robert, and their children, Sarah and Ezra. He will also be loved and missed by friends, students, colleagues, and extended family.
Kidder Funeral Home, 1 Parker Ave., Northfield,MA is assisting the family with arrangements.
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The Old Gardener
for N.
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What he likes best
is the sun on his back
his hands in the soil
digging the holes
and planting the flowers
whose names he cannot
recall,
.
.
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Standing beside the rusty spigot
he waits for the dribble
to fill his pail, then bears it back
to the haphazard plot
he will gaze at in silence
while the sun goes down.
.
He chats with the catbird
who sits on the splintery shaft
of a broken-down plow
and who mimics the songs of his comrades
whose number is dwindling
as ice caps melt and oceans warm.
.
There will be few blossoms come early fall
a constant gardener no more
his joy rests in the earth
touching her reverently
as if to soften the horrors
that shadow us all.
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