“Like the Garden of the Lord” (Isa. 51:3)

By Kathryn E. Clement

Fairway Groves Ward, Mesa Arizona Salt River Stake

There is something holy
about the desert in spring.
The prophecy of last year’s seeds
is fulfilled in a measure of color
dazzling as revelation.
Saguaro raise their arms to heaven
and receive blessings
of white blossoms.
Gold fire burns brittlebush;
lupine spreads lavender peace
on thorny hillsides,

and in an atonement of red,
extending like a prayer
on the tips of ocotillo,
tracing the veins of phlox,
staining the desert floor
with clusters of scarlet bugler,
I find, despite the hard judgment
of stone and sun, mercy
and a promise of resurrection.