The Butterfly Bush

                                          by Tessa Harvey                        

On the way into the city

A butterfly bush perches

precariously

on the rooftop corner

of a dingy tenement building.

Its small brave branches

touch blue sky.

Etching out a fragile prayer of hope.

Its roots cling to a corner of 

life-giving dirt.

I love to see it there

Tracing its beauty

Far above the traffic's roar.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV