Fields on Fire

Fields on Fire

Set our fields on fire, spark or accelerant;
ignite our desire, let it burn beyond the heavy brush
and let it rush in a controlled burn consuming, down to bare earth,
each dry and dusty remnant of yesterday’s harvest.

In a cauldron smelt our ore, in Your foundry
refine us sweeter to the core. We have guarded our
oxidation, our patina only shows our age.

In your kiln collect finish our shape, in Your furnace
fire us freer to belong, light years from the place we’ve become.
Stamp us, your imprint, your handprint, solid as heat,
blazing and glazed with your glory.

Let our fields, rid of the dry, accept the rains, the splashes,
the lightning, the flashes of brilliance that coax the grain
green as spring and
ready for late summer harvesting.

Let the river run overflowing past the burn’s black and ash,
let the fawn drink at dawn, the barn owl nest, resting at dusk,
and life return where fire cleared the brush of previous
generations.