Love Abides
Upon the bleak fields of February
Mottled shadows crawl across the forest floor,
Cast by sun half-hearted glowering
Behind the drooping winter sky.
Spring still sleeping beneath wet leaves;
Warm rot, the blanket for the seeds
Last autumn cast carelessly, it seemed to me,
Upon the hard ground.
The dying leaves I watched them fall.
The dying leaves I watched them fall.
The green time done and gone again,
To ochre, scarlet, yellow, brown.
Question, acceptance, then finally revelation.
The green time comes and goes,
Skin fades, mottles, wrinkles;
Hair falls, eyes dim, bones weaken;
Even music slips away with time.
Till warm we wait beneath
Till warm we wait beneath
The blanket earth like seeds sown,
To be lifted up when February’s
Done its gray deed and Spring is come.
In faith we live the green times
In hope the ochre, scarlet, yellow, brown.
But it is in the February gray
We know that Love abides.
