our pilgrim way is scented wild / with rushes

A Rushbearing Prayer

The Fragrant Floor - A Rushbearing Prayer
by S. E. Reid

our pilgrim way is scented wild
with rushes, 

God’s good green grace
to follow us
where we tread;

our path is full of favors, 
rising to Heaven
from the riverside

and gathering
the light of the Son
to themselves;

O, rushes!
what fragrant floor you make!
what wild worship you bring
to this house where God resides!

we lay you down before us
as an offering
of seed
and leaf
and root
and branch

and wherever we walk
you remind us

that Heaven is full
of the scent
of Life.

S.E. Reid is a Pacific Northwest born and bred writer, editor, and poet. You can find her work—both speculative fiction and spiritual nonfiction—at http://sereid.com.

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My longtime kindred friend, Sally (S.E. Reid), has been a spiritual sojourner with me for years. Whether we’re at a coffee shop dreaming up ideas, or collaborating through our respective art forms online, it’s always a joy and an honor to get to work with her. Sally sent me this poignant rushbearing prayer last night, and the next thing I knew, a little rushbearing otter - surrounded by charlock and a “fragrant floor” of heather - started to appear on my paper.