Poem of the Month: June

I've been trying to post for 2 days now, but blogger isn't letting me. Don't know why, but maybe it has something to do with images, so I'm giving a non-image post a shot. I seem to have missed the poem of the month for April and May, so this is kind of a catch-up because I meant to post my favorite new Easter-type poem in April. It was published in Segullah, a journal by and for LDS women, and is written by Melissa Dalton-Bradford. You can read it and other great writing here. I'll also copy it below:

Early Harvest

by Melissa Dalton-Bradford

Midsummer. Eventide. Live waters.

You: broad-backed bundle of golden sheaves

hewn down,

washed,

rushed

headlong through death’s threshing current.

You: pre-ripe, holy harvest

wrested from these, your people;

gathered to those, your people

who attend from iridescent pastures.

You: Firstborn son,

First fruits of my womb,

Firstling of our flock,

First raised of our labors . . .

Enfolded now in the arms of the

First raised from the dead,

First lover of the flock,

First fruits of the tomb,

Firstborn Son . . .

O, Son!

Sweet, sacrificial fruit of my flesh,

Preserved in spirit

Till that first morn when you, our first reborn,

Shoot forth

’Mid spring. ’Mid song.

Parker Fairbourne Bradford, age eighteen, died July 21, 2007, after plunging twice into a rural river’s deadly undertow to save a friend who was drowning. The friend lived, but Parker never regained consciousness after 38 hours in a coma.