::prairie burn::

Burning prairie is

What the ancestors feared

Frantically beating the flames with water-soaked sacks

Digging trenches in hardened earth

Desperately trying to save their lives and livelihoods


Now the prairie burns with purpose

It burns to create new life

Blackened land with

Twisted branches and stumpy remains

Of brush and plants

Seemingly tell a despairing story

Yet the tale has just begun


Scorched soil absorbs sunlight

Warmth stimulating plants to grow

Green shooting up through the black

Birds gather for the feast of insects


The burning is rhythmic

To keep out unwanted invasive plants

Cleaning up and clearing out

Restoring nutrients and resetting cycles

Native plants know how to survive

Their roots go deep 


When fire sweeps over us

Do our roots hold us steady?

Are we used to the rhythms of purging that bring new life?

How are we strengthened for the next growing season?


The fire gives and the fire takes away

Blessed be the burning of the prairie



Written for the May 2024 Pentecost RezArts Exhibit at Church of the Resurrection

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