Garden of Hope
by Josiah Peachey
The church sat like a garden
strait backed rows of Eden
pasture of a people
peace of a long past
that longs to last.
But I ate of the tree of knowledge
and my banishment has burned
bridges in my mind
to a home that I may never find
this side of the river.
I walk through the garden
and see life feeding on death
the roots of these benches
planted in a soil of skulls
as each moment mankind falls.
And the serpent climbs the steeple
but the bread is on the table
and the book opened here
Word preached and forgotten
in this the only place of hope
and desolation.
Josiah is studying Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University, seeking better ways to be in the world as a follower of Jesus, and occasionally getting distracted by questions about the meaning of existence.
Photography by Kenneth Godoy