A Thought For The New Year

At Peace

A hard dark, almost black pit deposited

In this ancient Greek soil

Cracks open to reveal a shoot, a sapling.

Cultivation and care yields a powerful trunk,

Wild olives are not nearly as fertile.

Multi-jointed branches emerge

Intertwining gracefully for centuries.

At their fingertips silvery fruit that makes oil to light our way.

--Brette Popper