Ruins
by Rebecca Hardie
RUINS
Out of a copse lay the bare rock
in a grassy expanse, overgrown,
scars carved into the stone work,
weather beaten back to the bone.
The kin shunned its sad desolation
and ventured no more to its side,
save one of their smallest companions -
the curly-haired girl, left to cry.
Her hand touched the rock like prognostic,
she sat and let hang head and feet,
unaware all the time that the groundsman
drew up close and knelt down in the peat.
I will look for you in the ruins
I will come and comfort you there
I will raise up a great dominion
I will fortify, build and repair.
A gentle hand reached before her
and traced unknown shapes in the clod,
till her eye caught their sign and from finger to face
joined the rise of a knowing nod.
Did she see in this rubble a structure?
Could she heed that this heap had design?
Know the task of the bolder beneath her?
How the disjointed stories aligned?
She sat on the solitary capstone
that locked with the hard grasp of earth.
The charred rock recalled how the fire blazed,
giving tales in the glasswork their mirth.
I will look for you in the ruins
I will come and comfort you there
I will raise up a great dominion
I will fortify, build and repair.
One piece shows a pair naked, cowering,
their naive hands clinging to dust;
but a wise word uncovers their silence
and the act that had broken all trust.
A city looms in the distance
with a building erected on high,
its people dispersed in their difference,
their unity fractured through pride.
A woman runs to the hillside
carrying a load on her back,
but she turns on her heel in an instant,
scared to face all that new birth might lack.
I will look for you in the ruins
I will come and comfort you there
I will raise up a great dominion
I will fortify, build and repair.
A shard holds still a small stable
with animals crouching in hay;
a woman swaddles a bare load,
heaven’s silence broken this day.
A man stands tall on a hilltop
addressing a great gathering there;
small children tussle and tumble -
one girl cuddles up, free of care.
A spear’s point strikes at the shard’s edge,
splitting not one side but two;
A mother embraces her dead one,
baring prophecy come true.
I will look for you in the ruins
I will come and comfort you there
I will raise up a great dominion
I will fortify, build and repair.
The girl looked back at the stranger,
took hold of his face in her palms;
she whispered to him of a secret
and he cradled her there in his arms.
No more would clay claim the heart song
of legacy worn down with time;
but tales will arise out of ruins,
from this bedrock beholden to life.
I will look for you in the ruins
I will come and comfort you there
I will raise up a great dominion
I will fortify, build and repair.
REBECCA HARDIE
Rebecca Hardie describes herself as a professional dreamer who hones skills for rest. Additionally, she works as an academic and Managing Editor for a digital platform in Berlin. Life in Germany began as a one-year teaching post at the University of Göttingen and became seven years of learning through German landscape, fellowship, and grammar. Although based in Berlin, Rebecca travels back to England regularly to visit family.
Her writing explores themes such as healing, emotions, childhood, honesty, and prayer. Rebecca says she writes to keep asking questions, navigate and embrace the heart fully, and fall into God’s love.