Zach Winters - Eight Long Months

Eight long months
With nothing showing
With not one coming
And in the swelter nothing growing
Well, July’s heat
Brought us to our knees
But we’re still crawling

When the Spring came with rain
Oh, it came all at once in a down pour
And the hail came with
With all its knives and its fists
And left our garden sore
Their heads looked down
And their backs bent over like orphans
And I wondered if what I planted in the ground
Had any chance of becoming what I’m hoping

Nine long months
We just returned from a wedding
It's things like these
That make me think of where we’re heading
The heart’s trapeze
Has no comfort of the netting

But the tears that are shed in a drought
Are more precious for the letting
And the Fall came gentle
And the blossoms that were wrinkled began to open
And the August that had pressed on us so hard
September had broken

So prune it off, we’ll see
Or pull them up if no fruit is setting
Because the Fall is here
And because the garden’d be fairer for replanting

December comes
And a baby is awakened
And frost may fall
But our hope, it wasn’t taken
And the Summer earth was dormant
But the Winter fruit is persevering