The Precious Seed

By: Jerome D. Matthews, Sr.

For: His daughter on her seventeenth birthday

There was a seed in the mist of weeds and thorns and snares

This seed was plain, nothing special or strange

There it remained until the day it was claimed a found

By a young man that fell and saw it while stooping down

He was not looking for nor had any need for seeds, but

The young man cupped his hand and plucked out of the weeds

A small seed, plain, nothing special or strange

Without knowledge or skill to mow or till

A chilling though brought fear to the lad

This seed has needs that he had not had nor has

He looked for soil tried and tested by those who toiled

Through depression of soul and spirit

But he did not know where it could be found

So he planted the seed in shallow ground

The seed grew and spouted, green and tender, soft and slender

A plant in shallow ground, a young man searching ‘til he found

That soil from days of old, from days long ago, a soil rich and true

Although he knew he did not know how to mow or till, but yet he still

Dug deep in dirt, he worked through hurt, through thorns and thistles

Until the plant was rooted and grounded in soil suited for wellness

The plant grew and spouted and grew huge flowers

With hues of blue and shades of red

With explosive bursts of lavender, green, and yellow

So much so the young one did not know how to contain himself

The sheer beauty had power to take breath

And make lapse of reason real and often

With shaky and scared shears he carefully pruned the plant

Knowing that he can’t possibly add to the spender of the sight that it was

Because of its tough environment he placed tents and shelters around it

He guarded the grounds that surrounded this treasure until he no longer could find

Neither Cage nor box that could contain the plant without causing pain to its membranes

The plant no longer enclosed to his surprise before his eyes grew to a tree

Whose roots ran deep and whose leaves reached high, higher than the lad could climb

The seed far surpassed his wildest dreams so he took his seat at the tree’s base

Determined to rest from his labors and bask in the tree’s shade