Once
in a rainforest a mushroom
Grew
innocently, silently,
Pale
thing longing for light,
Pushing
up through ignorance of peat and moss
Past
dried up lichen and ancient bracken fern
Towards
small gaps in the canopy
From
which, it knew, fell pearls of light
Into
pooled water on bark boats.
And still it grows, pushing blindly
upward
Miles
of forest floor consumed,
Its
head huge and proud
Blocking
out light from
Seeds
spored below.
In
its great shade, nothing could live.
And
slowly, sadly, the green receded
Until
only on the edge of the clearing
Could
new growth be found
Sprouting,
tentatively, falteringly.
If
it grows large enough
One
day it may keel over, top heavy,
And
nourish new life by its decomposing.
You
who struggle to keep tender faith alive
In
the shadow of ecclesia –
Pray
for that day.
___________________
Bronwen
Neil is a lecturer with the Centre for Early Christian Studies,
McAuley Campus.
