The Olive Branch

Photo by Jeremy Perkins

Hey God, just a quick question

I can’t seem to find the protocol

For offering an olive branch. 

Seems like the olive branch

Comes from the offender,

And not the offended.

Wasn’t it you who sent the floods?

Yet, Noah, the last one standing 

After the violence, sent the dove.

I’m curious how one determines

Who’s the offender and

Who’s the offended

When both of you have stabbed one another

Over and over again. 

Should the one who stabbed first

Offer the branch

Or perhaps the one who cut deepest?

Perhaps, though, 

If I’m reading this right

The olive branch comes from someone else 

Who was spared from the violence

Just like the dove Noah sent

Was cared for on the boat

That you told him to build

So it could spread its wings again.

Does the olive branch come from

A person who loves you both?

Someone you both love?

Can you help me understand?


Leave a comment