When the green bud sprouts from the earth

Author Bethany J. Riddle

When the green bud sprouts from the earth

Bethany J. Riddle

Three minutes old when we first met.
She carried you over, placing you on my chest.

You lifted your head, dark eyes searching
as I stared in wonder at how one so new could carry such strength.

And I think of a seed that is planted in the earth—
how from nurture and nature it grows to what life intends.

Sometimes.

Because nature is not always kind,
and sometimes nurture is not enough.

But when things go right—
when the green bud breaks through the warmed soil, 
life, oh life!

The tender seedling striving for the sun.
The warmth of her body against my own.

To hold a life. To hold this life.

To hold a life that has only just begun.

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Poems & Paraboles publishes work that illuminates, awakens, or opens a small window toward wonder. Some pieces are quiet. Some are bold. Some carry a moral thread, while others wander into the mysterious and ethereal.

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