"A garland
instead of ashes."
A prophet's promise
to a people long before
Mt. Saint Helens.
Geologists confirm
pre-historic calamities
in ash-layers.
Beneath every rose garden
are strata
where nothing grew.
Nearly every place
and every life we know
has its ash layers
of past devastation.
And every blooming life
grows in a place
where nothing once grew.
We celebrate whatever
(or Whoever?)
makes true the promise
and possibility
of garlands
instead of ashes.