Hallowed is the Breaking and Other Poems

by Rachel Lynne Sakashita

HALLOWED IS THE BREAKING

Rain decides nothing for itself. It falls,

just falls. There is no second thought, no

saintly hesitation, and it doesn’t harbor guilt

for rivuleting through all things manufactured

to stave it off. Several weeks ago, I heard

the dam twelve miles away finally broke

apart, and do you know what took it out?

Water. Broken by what it was designed for.

In its essence, water gives life. Rain nurtures

soil, tears itself apart to cultivate, a whole conflict

contained in one dainty droplet. To nourish

or to injure? Rain does not decide—

but even if, in some wild world, rain were witting,

it could have chosen no better a place to fall than this.

DELIGHT IS A BAREFOOT SPRINT

into reality, stooping

to collect the few brave and

waiting wildflowers.

Delight is, in herself, defiance

as she grits her teeth and blinks,

sun pressing at her shoulders.

She digs her toes into the parched

earth, expects a yield of glory.

Delight is not ignorant.

She knows this summer will be

a dusty one, the kind burdened

with hopeless seeds and despair,

but Delight chooses.

She trusts that rain clouds will roll

in to weep above the straining soil,

for buried in her deepest roots

is the memory that life

always comes stumbling back,

and Delight yearns to dance

among the barren as they wait.

RACHEL LYNNE SAKASHITA

Rachel Lynne Sakashita is a full-time Japanese language student and part-time intercultural ministry worker living with her husband in Pennsylvania.

Her work can be found in blogs and journals, such as The Truly Co., Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, The Clayjar Review, and her Substack, Ewe and Shepherd. Find her on Instagram at @abrightaubade.