Searching for “salt” in my poetry files, I found about 50 poems centered on salt. Another came to me this morning, but before ending this post on that one, I thought these two previously written poems might draw salt into clearer focus:
Pouring Salt
Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34
And Jesus said:
“You are the salt of the earth.”
But if saltiness loses its flavor, how will we stay seasoned?
How will we keep from being tasteless? Or, worse, how will
we avoid being distasteful to others?
We’re not called to be saccharinely sweet, but every living thing
needs salt to keep on living. Deer nestle near salt blocks and
people settle by salt springs where health and beauty grow.
Roman soldiers got partly paid in salt, using salarium
to season their dinner, clean their brass, draw out infection,
preserve food. Salt softens even the hardest water and melts
ice. Your blood, your sweat, your tears come highly seasoned
with salt, and so does everyone else’s. Remember this bond
we share, and you will be seasoned with peace.
The book A Gathering of Poems includes the next poem:
Shaking Salt
We want
We taste
We crave this old
enhancing
Thirsty
Body cells
Electrical charges
never brackish
Our pores exude
Tears
Oceans
Preservatives
Washers of wounds
Blood pressure
Bread leavening
descending
rising
Too much
Too little
ruins a thing
better tasting
Humor taken
with a grain
Plain speech
peppering
Salt of earth salt
of earth
You are the….
Hopefully, those poems lead into the one that came to me this morning on another scalding day with a “feels like” temperature in the triple digits.
The Saline Solution
This unusually hot weather
has become a trial, a hardship!
Even in my air-conditioned car,
sweat drips from my hair
and pools around my eyes,
making them sting.
And I think of the salt
pouring from me and how
Jesus said, “You are
the salt of the earth.”
And suddenly,
this metaphor extends
into the sweat equity
our families, church,
and communities
may need from us,
while our salted cries
implore the Lord
to restore His people,
to bring hope and healing
to homeless children,
and those who are abused,
and those who endure hatred
or prejudices of any kind,
and those who don’t
know God at all!
But, praise God, we do!
And we know Jesus Christ,
Who includes us in this
restoration process and
invites us to become His
Salt of the Earth.
Amen.
© 2023/08/11 Mary Harwell Sayler
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Mary Harwell Sayler 