So many reasons for tears
Fires splitting towns in two
Searing histories and dreams forever
Butterflies your grandchildren will never see
Dancing on the breath of God, as the sun sets
Little ones picking through city alleys for eucharist
Finding plastic, the refuse of empire's penthouse
And joy crushed by despair, as another tweet makes us mean.
Weep today, siblings and friends
Weep until waves of tears baptize and anoint you
With knowledge too deep, too painful for forgetting
Weep until the tears themselves carve new paths
Across the landscape of the heart, fields of God
And then follow Love there, where Love leads
Never far from the sadness, but beyond its sting
The seeds you need are in your hands
The seeds you must plant and wait to see
So rise up, children of earth, go to the fields
Plant the seeds, wait and watch and pray
And trust your tears for the softening of soil
For the nourishment of Love's way.
Do not linger, rise up, go, plant
DGJ 8/9/21
