Sometimes, while writing the weekly sermon, other ideas swirl and prod, but editing is critical, and they don’t make it into the final draft.  Some of them linger.  This is one idea that persisted and emerged in a poem, having pondered Philippians 3:13–“forgetting what lies behind, reaching out for what lies ahead…”

I rescued

one teacup

to honor

Grandmother

hid it among the quilts

I alone unfold

each night.

The memory

is safe

for now.

Her silken hands

handing me

milky tea

veins in relief

tracing the map

of her years

life blood

testifying

that she

is here.

Was there.

We will have

a new here.

The china

painted peonies

she selected

as a bride

had to go.

The careful wrapping

the harsh warnings

the birthday meals

the thin connection

to the old country

had to go.

Shattered

in a ravine

bright treasure

for the crows.

China flowers

among the real,

payment

for carrying

our hope

lightly.

Flowers

along the way

anyway

columbine

fireweed

sego lily

and the

teacup

snatched

to hold

my grandmother’s

memory

will find

its new place

at the end

of the trail.