Author's comment --
An operatic music video (referenced at the end of the first chapter) about a sheltering tree triggered the initial writing of Starkindling. To book-end Starkindling with external works, the author adverts the gentle reader to a prayer-poem he heard in worship this morning. It is by Arnold Kenseth (1915-2003), who was at different times a minister, college instructor, chaplain, and curator of the Harvard College Library Poetry Room. More information about Arnold Kenseth may be found here. The full poem appeared in Gifts of Many Cultures: Worship Resources for the Global Community by Maren C. Tirabassi and Kathy Wonsen Eddy. The complete poem may also be found on-line, e.g. -- directly here and on page 5 here.
Kenseth's short work concludes:
Make of us trees strong in all seasons,
Bearing good fruit,
Giving shade to all weariness
And shelter to them that are lost.
So we pray to the glory of Jesus Christ
Who made the crosstree
Green and flourishing forever.
Amen.
To the extent that the gentle reader perceives in the Starkindling plot-line -- embedded as it is within the universe of J.R.R. Tolkien's pre-Christian sub-creation -- any resonance with or fore-shadowing of such sentiments, the author is gratified. Happy Easter!
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