For my daughter, Susanna Hope Ennis, SHE is the Lily
I.
Our yard was just a wide and empty field
I knew its hidden seeds, one day would grow
I wondered what surprise our yard concealed
Would flowers sprout in Spring? I didn’t know
The winter snow was cold; the ground was hard
I hoped a flower’s seed was underneath
I wanted pretty flowers in our yard
The kind that barren, winter fields bequeath
When springtime’s warmth made water from the ice
The seeds below the ground would swell and sprout
The warmth of springtime’s sun was more than nice
Warm sunshine is what springtime’s all about!
Our field was wide, but filled with hidden seeds
And from each seed, the gift of life proceeds.
II.
I’m just a seed; I have no stalk, no root
I want the sun to kiss my first green leaf
The earth is where I want to sprout my shoot
If life is growth, I hope it isn’t brief!
I want to grow and greet greet each day, alive!
I feel the life inside me and around
I want all things around my home to thrive
Regardless of the cold and snowy ground!
I want to be a flower, bright and pure
I want to be the flower in my heart
I know I’ll be a flower; that’s for sure
I hope my colors live in someone’s art
The warmth and light of sun are what I need
My colors are inside; I’m just a seed!
III.
I see the sun! I’ve sprouted from the field
I’m green, just like the others all around
Ten thousand of us must have been concealed
Beneath this wide expanse of snowy ground!
We’re rising fast to greet the blessed sun!
We love her warmth and light with all our hearts
It’s true, our blessed lives have just begun
But simple things sometimes have blessed starts!
Like her, the sun, she rises every day
A simple sunrise starts the day off right
And yet her simple action is the way
We live within her warmth and blessed light!
From tiny seeds, the sun invites us out
Each one of us is proud to be a sprout!
IV.
My stem is strong; I’m more than just a sprout
I’m growing strong within this field of friends
Our strength is what our growing is about
We’ll all grow strong with strength that never ends!
I want to grow as strong as I can be
I want to hold my head up to the sky
I want my friends to be as tall as me
If I grew any taller, I could fly!
My stem’s as strong as roots that hold me up
My roots provide my stem with nourishment
Much more than just a sip from some small cup
I drink the water that the rain has sent
It makes my stem much stronger than a sprout
Such strength is what my growing’s all about.
V.
My leaves come next to gather precious light
I gather from the sunlight up above
My leaves know how to gather what is bright
The sunlight I enjoy is like pure love.
My leaves absorb the sunlight from the sun
Then send it down my stem; it keeps me warm
It helps to feed my roots, which have begun
To keep me grounded when the sky-clouds storm
I love my leaves; they wave in breezy ways
I love the way they feel like arms or wings
I love the sound they make on wind days
They like to dance and yes, they like to sing
And still they gather sunlight as they sway
The light becomes the love that they display.
VI.
Atop my stem, above my leaves, I feel
My bulb; it’s full of petals, colored bright
The brightly colored petals can’t conceal
The joy I dreamed within them, every night!
My bulb is like a seed that hides a song
A cloud that holds a rainbow in the sky
I hope my dreams will let me sing along
The rainbowed cloud will join us, by and by
Within my bulb, a folded flower waits
It waits until it’s time for it to show
To show the beauty that my field creates
The reason why the hidden seeds all grow.
I feel anticipation as I wake
And see the bulbous strength my field can make.
VII.
My bulb unfolds as gently as the sun
With glory in the color it displays
The glory of my growth is nearly done
Although my growth goes on, its glory stays
VIII.
Lilies of the Field
This sequence is based on a biblical allusion to Matt. 6