Shattered Clay, Shining Treasure

by Christel Jeffs

SHATTERED CLAY, SHINING TREASURE

I gather Ebenezers

from rivers

and estuaries,

from ocean edges,

shattered roadsides.

I gather Creation’s rubble,

the stones that speak.

Smooth and firm,

ridged and rippled,

they tell of fallen mountains

and

scraped-out valleys.

They mark time’s passage

by the pummelling of their bodies

from what is beheld

to what can be held

in the palm of my hand.

I place in a clay pot

earth upon earth

and saunter my fingers

through the stones that speak:

the clay keeps shattering,

but the treasure keeps shining.

Belittle not the wild things,

the shrapnel of earth

that lasts.

CHRISTEL JEFFS

Christel Jeffs is, first and foremost, a beloved daughter of God: the one that Jesus loves. Beyond that, she is a writer, editor, and counselor.

She lives in Northland, New Zealand, the place that serves as the backdrop for her debut novel, The Gumdigger’s Wife (2016). Her poetry has been featured in several Fast Fibres Poetry anthologies and the literary journals Vessels of Light and Calla Press. She loves to help others re-write their stories through her counseling work while continuing to author her own, guided by the greatest Storyteller of all.