Keepers

Keepers.

With diligent care they cherish
the inheritance trusted to them.
Reverently they polish
holy jewel, sacred gem.
Lovingly they treasure
these stones in this holy place,
their strivings and their leisure
they offer with heavy grace.
For they have been entrusted
with the burden each one owns,
the knowledge that many years before
God’s light shone through these stones.

The occasional visitor listens politely,
respecting the weight of their years,
enjoying a sense of the ancient,
while dismissing the story she hears.
For her, light is found in her children,
in the beauty of nature around,
in the charitable gift to a stranger,
in the orchestra’s breath-taking sound.
As she looks at these keepers of stones
she sees something strange in their eyes,
an absence of light, a quiet dullness,
a morbid fear of surprise.

Continues...