The Locust Years

The cracked, baked and scorched earth,
Speaks nothing of the hope of birth,
The hard ground,
The unbroken soil,
The charred remains,
Of last years toil,

The locust thief, who came and went,
Left nothing behind when he was spent,
And nothing burst into flame,
And took what was left after the locust came,

And what was left for us?
Devastation,
And mistrust,

And we surveyed the loss,
No accident of nature,
Did this,
To us,

This is his voice to us,
How threatening at first,
How dangerous,

We thought,

There is now nothing left to revive,
Nothing here has been left alive,

But,

Beneath the solid cake of earth,
Remained,
A seed,
Or root,
To birth,

We thought the fire had finished us,
But germinating within the crust,
Burried beyond all natural sight,
A sprout reaches out,
For a chink of light,
A remnant of what was planted remains,
Lies in waiting for the sound of rain,

A hope when hope was gone,
A way in the wasteland,
Where there once was none,

The latter rains they came,
And soaked the earth,
Once scorched by sun and flame,
Refreshed the soil once again,
Washed consciences and soothed the pain,

The latter rains;
They came,
And came,
They cleansed the ground,
Of bitter blame,
And blessed the earth,
Once again,

Now green shoots appear,
All across the earth,
The roots of hope and re-rebirth,
The open pastures are springing up,
The bread is baking,
The wine flowing over the cup,
And now the memory of all the lack,
Is gone,
And is,
Not coming back,

The Locust years are past,
And gone behind,
restored to us,
And restored to mind,

We have been faithless,
We have been blind,
But now we see,
And know he's kind,
(Slow to anger and quickly kind),

We return tyo him with all our hearts,
We can begin, we can restart,
Don't tear our clothes,
But break our hearts,
Into pieces,
Into parts,
He will rebuild.
We will be filled,

And wake
from dreamless sleep,
To dream the waking,
Dreams that keep,
The arresting visions of,
The Father's love,
Dealing wondrously with us,
As it is poured out upon all flesh,
Poured out,
and lavished,
On us,
Afresh.

"And If we ask,
He will come,
Send his rain,
On everyone".