Revival and Renewal

I walked, worn and weary, 
in straits of my own making. 
Alone, despair, sun-drenched, 
dry, soul-wrung, cliff-ridden. 

Atop the mesa my eye caught 
a glimpse of life’s abiding breeze. 
Of the balm of branch and trunk and leaf.
Of shade, a never-had memory. 
But it left before my heart could swell, 
lifting my gaze to future groves. 

Long ages, epochs, buffeting drought, 
till, filled with grace, I reached that grove.
And all around me what I felt, 
was cool, and rest, and fertile ground. 
Among my toes the beetles danced
in lovely lilies, twirling grass. 
And breeze and bark and dapples led
me further toward the azure joy 
of water babbling for babbling’s sake 
and canopies that lived for shade. 

And love and life and memory 
were finally redeemed for me. 
And, feet immersed and life renewed,
I looked and read on every leaf:
A promise kept; a story true. 

(c) Casey Dwyer, October 2020.