Friday, August 7, 2026
Watermelon Seeds
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Our last recommendation for the Dormition Fast is this lovely poem by Sherry Shenoda:
According to Coptic oral tradition
when the Theotokos, the Mother
with the Christ Child received water
at the hand of a watermelon farmer
embedding smooth black seeds
into freshly furrowed fields
she paused to bless him and his crop.
The next morning pursuers intending
to kill the Child questioned the farmer
but turned back, foiled, for Yes,
Mother and Child passed this way
he said, while I was yet planting seeds.
He swept his arm out over the field
ripe with heavy-bellied dark green
watermelons ready for harvest.
Sherry will be teaching a workshop on poetry in just a few weeks! Learn more and sign up here.