Waiting

A free verse analogy that came to me while outdoors last week.

I walked a familiar muddy trail and paused at a field I've seen before.

But suddenly, the field was me: uneven, upset, and overturned.

I used to walk here in the fall and it looked different then.

I can't quite remember what was here but it's ripped out now.

There must be some other plan.

The owner of the field must know,

but I cannot imagine.

Will he plant it with crops? With flowers?

Will it be beautiful?

I know my heart is often much the same.

Rough dirt and rocks

instead of growth.

The earth will not remain untouched,

for sowing is the Owner's plan.

He has some seeds, enclosed like me,

inside of one big hand.

Oh I want to know what he will plant,

but I should wait,

and let him sow.

I know what I think would be beautiful,

but I must not beg to choose

for he has chosen well:

The Owner has a plan.

The cold, the bare, and ugly ground will flourish, that I know.

But with a beauty and a time that only

the Owner knows.

I'll wait to see the field again,

He knows that I am here.

And while I wait, I wait with trust,

And do not clamor to know more,

because in knowing there is short relief,

but in not knowing,

there is growth.