For Those Who Endure
Poem and photography by Pearl Roycroft
The other morning I was caught up in a daydream
Walking through rows of tomato vines
They were taller than me, wildly twisting up to the sun
I was lost in a food forest
The soil damp beneath my feet
They weren’t just any tomatoes
But my tomatoes
Organic, heirloom, self-seeded from the year before
Accidental and deliberate
Wild and tamed
Tethered and free
But for now, I watch the jars
On my kitchen windowsill
In my landlord’s house
They’re full of water, and propagated leaves
That have survived like that for a long while
Close to two years now
They've barely grown an inch
An unfolding leaf or two
They look back at me each time I do the dishes
With a silent plea in their curled arms
When will you release me from this desert?
For most my adult life
My faith has been surviving - not thriving
Stuck between unanswered questions and unanswered prayers
When God feels so close, yet a million miles away
But beneath the surface something is happening
Roots are forming, sinking low
Slowly but surely
Knotted and tangled, ready to be gently unfolded
By warm hands. In preparation for the planting
Then, in that day, when the saplings reach the soil
They will bud and bloom, grafted in the truth
Their fruit for food
Their leaves for medicine
All who see them will rejoice
And they will not be shaken
Recently I was driving when God showed me his heart
For those who are surviving
Whose faith have not been thriving
And I want you to know
That the Lord is pleased with you
He delights in your enduring
In your stubborn grip, your shaky hold
In your crying out to him, when it doesn’t make sense
Even if you haven’t seen a new leaf in a long time
He sees you
In the waiting and praying
In your surrender, in your hope of things which cannot be seen
And he rejoices over you
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Pearl Roycroft - Regular Contributor
A gardener by morning, napper by afternoon and hostess by night, Pearl considers herself the luckiest girl in the world. She is a cacao enthusiast from the Perth Hills, who lives with a pet bird, a close sister and many trees. Pearl has travelled to unique places around the globe and across the country in her red van, of which you can read about at Pitter Patter Paper. For love, she makes music. Check out her album Closing Doors on Bandcamp.