Saved

I see it when I prepare food.

Chopping vegetables or pouring out grains of rice

I see how I watch the pieces that get left out

or the grains that fall away from the pot.

I always pick them up.

Taking the Extra effort to wash them again

if they’ve landed on the floor or the counter top,

I put them back in the pan or the soup.

And always I think of the biblical story:

The great Lord God talking

about who will live and who will die

in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham asks, “If I can find fifty righteous people,

will you destroy the whole city?”

Then finally coming down to

“What about one good person—

will you destroy the whole place if I can find one good soul?”

I always think of that and save the grain of rice.

Saying this one has come so far, grown with all the others,

come finally to my kitchen, in my hand,

and now I have dropped it. So I rescue the one grain or bean.

Thinking always if someone saw me,

I would also be rescued.

When I am reminded

who I truly am—

I am the cook.

I am the water.

I am the pot.

I am the bean

finally seen and savored.