I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David,
who shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
—Jeremiah 33.15
God,
I know we are destroying your planet,
brutalizing children at the border,
while the Emperor spews hatred and fear.
I don’t need to know the future,
nor even that you know the future,
don’t need to be able to imagine how
in the world
a righteous branch might spring up
and save us.
I only need to know you are here,
and in the root of the trees even now
letting their last leaves go
you are here,
your bud already swelling,
ready for the cold,
you are here, your light already turning,
in the dust and dark and final confusion,
in the the sharp rocks and edges of the last road,
your child already coming,
among us, maybe even within us,
ready for the risk,
his beautiful little face lifting us into a different life,
your arms already sweeping us up.
Snow falls,
and a bud ripens.
—November 27, 2018