for Ruth

after a season of losing things
came a season of barley.
beautiful,
the way things
grow up from ground
where there was once nothing,
and beautiful how she
was gathering grain,
picking up pieces
like her soul
and rooting deep
and rising.
he loved her before
she said a single word,
but was just a burst of light
in the fields,
and heard of who she was
and who she was being made to be.
and he loved her.
and he loved her the way
a gardener loves the things
that grow,
because he can watch them
throwing their fingers into the
sunshine and because they
are always looking up,
in worship,
and because it was his field
and because it was his heart
where the soil was right
and the timing - perfect.
beautiful is when faith
found her face down on
the threshing floor,
reckless.
and it's true
that he loved her
before he got to kiss
the crown of her forehead,
his wife,
and then watch redemption:
how it moved and built their home,
settled in.