Mikey's Poetry Book, Ch. 24
"The Fields Are Dying"
I was tending lush fields
packed full of grain
and other essential crops
it was beautiful and flourishing
it fed multitudes
and it pleased me to see it grow
and to stay fed on my own labors.
I felt strong and independent
needing nothing
besides what my own hands could provide.
Years passed.
My fields were still gorgeous
others relied on what it could give
as did I
yet I discovered circles under my eyes
ones that weren’t there before.
I plowed on regardless.
Years passed.
My fields were the talk of the town.
I was a cornerstone
relied upon by all.
I had my purpose.
Yet I was sleeping less.
The circles grew.
I couldn’t move as I once did.
I plowed on regardless.
Years passed.
My fields appear a little less full these days.
The people come by and pick them clean.
I’m not planting as much as I used to.
It just
feels like too much
to do.
They’ll understand.
I’m just tired, is all.
Years passed.
People don’t come by so much anymore.
Not since I started growing only as much as I need.
They speak ill of me
and they hate who I am.
One day
my fields are raptured
by fire.
If I couldn’t provide enough,
I may as well have none at all.
Or so the people seemed to believe.
Years passed.
My fields are dry and empty.
I haven’t tended to them in years.
Yet,
I am satisfied.
I was invited into a place
a community
with flourishing fields of their own
tended too by many
feeding those in need.
I admitted to them I was one in need
and I was taken in.
They introduced me to the Man in Charge.
He told me that He saw how hard I had worked.
How I toiled and suffered.
How proud I was in my own efforts.
He asked in I would trust Him instead
tend His fields
and let Him worry about my needs.
I stood scared at first.
My labor
it’s all I had
it’s what I knew.
And this man
the Man in Charge
asks me to give it up
to Him.
Absurd.
Yet
I remember the people
the pride
the way they took
and then destroyed
when I had none left
how I was rebuked.
And then I look into His eyes.
His extended hand.
The flourishing fields
and the lives He had cared for
and I think in that moment,
I understood.
I couldn’t live fed by pride.
I couldn’t be all I ever needed.
But here is this man
giving His time
His life
to fulfill the needs of those around Him
with no regrets
no complaints
no ulterior motives
and no debts.
I take His hand.
And I tend His fields.
I rest easy
because He has everything else
under control.