Winter 2024-2025

Persist, O Tender Ones

By Maura H. Harrison

            They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green
            —Psalm 92:12-14

            Unless you turn and become like children
            —Matthew 18:3

My joy is ever full of sap and green:
A quiet vigor pulsing vein, faith’s fine		
Resin, an everlasting hopeful sheen
Coloring prayer with shades of fir and pine,

            With scent and flourish.    

Lord, in this way, my ordinary days 
Are in the sun, absorbing love from Light
and turning ever younger in the ways
of wonder, turning blight and plight to bright,

            Childlike and curious.

I laugh—and laud the junipers and pines
Tenaciously greening wintertide
With ever-growing limbs, eternal signs
That after winter—spring and Paschaltide,

            And fruits that nourish.

About the Author

Maura H. Harrison is a writer and artist from Fredericksburg, VA. Her written works have appeared in Dappled Things, Ekstasis Magazine, Solum Journal, and others. Her visual works have appeared in Vita Poetica and Heart of Flesh Literary Journal.