POETRY: Healing Harvest, by Matthew and Dennis Linn

O memory of a painful time,
are you seed or stone?
A dark and deadly tomb,
Or seed with life to bloom?
Only if I say, “I want you,”
Will I really know.

O sprouting seed, are you angry
At the dark and choking dirt?
What grates your tender shoot
And blocks your chosen route?
Only if I say, “I forgive you,”
Will I really know.

O tender shoot, are you bargaining,
Demanding sun before you grow?
Or would you rather as the sun
Pour warm love on everyone?
Only if I say, “I forgive you first,”
Will I really know.

O roots, do you wander depressed
Searching in drought for tears?
Or do you need more sun
To dry the tears that run?
Only if I say, “Forgive me,”
Will I really know.

O golden wheat, can you accept
The gifts of pulsing seed?
Are you wheat or golden bread?
Are you bread or Christ instead?
Only if I say, “Thank you,”
Will I really know.

Unless a grain of wheat
Falls into the Earth and dies,
It remains alone:
But if it dies,
It bears much fruit.
(John 12:24)

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