We should not mind so small a flower.
—Emily Dickinson

The lengthening days of Lent
with its increasing light
coaxing the swelling buds,
the unfurling ferns, greening,
the blooming of everything

in this season of awakening,
in every sense of becoming.

The opening of irises,
of eyes, as well as
broadening hearts
pointing toward love,
toward the mysteries
that warm us—

let us revel in the flourishing
of the earth, what has sprouted
there and there, poking their
wee heads up through dirt,

bursting forth on branches,
on supple stems that remind us
of the hope springing,

the lengthening of
everpresent grace.