October 6–12 ❘ Treasure Trove

Treasure Trove

My parents paid for Sunday shoes
and music lessons, children’s
encyclopedias and youth trips,
New Year’s Eve breakfasts
and offerings to the church
subsidized by selling scrap gold.

They patched together dollars
like a quilt to spread over multitudes.
Some monetary investments withered,
but their garden multiplied tomatoes
and spun off subsidiary zucchini
to feed the neighborhood.

They sometimes worried
they would outlive their means,
but there was always treasure
in their home—jewels cut and polished
by education, love, and discipline
held to catch the Light,

eternal increase willing to spend
and be spent in the cause of the Lord.

• Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry

• Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com