Consider the Lilies of the Field

I think I may have mentioned that there was a poem noodling in my brain during the Blue Christmas service. This is what came of that noodling this morning while I was getting my chemo transfusion. 


Consider the Lilies of the Field*

By Todd M. Strickland

The apple tree has dropped its leaves

In a deep winter snow, the tree stands alone

Naked before the brutal winds of winter

Gnarls of age'd bark show the tests of time

Like a hand weathered by age

The tree looks cracked and weary

CRY for the sweet apples that no longer adorn her branches!

And remember the crocuses lie beneath the snow



Was it cold the day Mom died?

With a mind that was betraying her, did she struggle alone

While a storm of illnesses piled up around her?

We gathered around her to hold back the hands of time

Like a child, she begged for more time to play

And died even sooner than expected

RAGE against the pain and CRY for lost conversations!

And remember the crocuses lie beneath the snow



Consider the lilies of the field

Yes! They neither toil nor spin

Yes! Solomon in all his glory was not adorned as one of these

Yet, they too will pass in time

The snow will come and cover the field

WEEP and GNASH your teeth!

They are alive today but BURIED tomorrow!

So beautiful yet thrown in the oven so REND your clothing!

You are safe to bare your naked pain to the passing winter

Because the crocuses lie beneath the snow



December 16, 2019

***

* The title was my mother's favorite passage from the Bible. 

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