Eight Long Months

Eight long months

With nothing showing

With not one coming

And in the swelter nothing growing

Well, July’s heat

Brought us to our knees

But we’re still crawling

When the Spring came with rain

Oh, it came all at once in a down pour

And the hail came with

With all its knives and its fists

And left our garden sore

Their heads looked down

And their backs bent over like orphans

And I wondered if what I planted in the ground

Had any chance of becoming what I’m hoping

Nine long months

We just returned from a wedding

It's things like these

That make me think of where we’re heading

The heart’s trapeze

Has no comfort of the netting

But the tears that are shed in a drought

Are more precious for the letting

And the Fall came gentle

And the blossoms that were wrinkled began to open

And the August that had pressed on us so hard

September had broken

So prune it off, we’ll see

Or pull them up if no fruit is setting

Because the Fall is here

And because the garden’d be fairer for replanting

December comes

And a baby is awakened

And frost may fall

But our hope, it wasn’t taken

And the Summer earth was dormant

But the Winter fruit is persevering