A view from under the pew

link Amos the Church Mouse

Illustrated by Gary Mitchell

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks – except dashes and hyphens.

legend of the easter seed

boss i don t know if you ve

ever had a conversation

with a mustard seed before

but i did the other day

it was quite enlightening

with this being the season

of easter and all

i was shopping in sara

spider s underground

supermarket behind the

church kitchen wall when i

found myself in the wild

bird feed section in fact i

wasn t watching where i was

going and i fell into the

mustard seed bin

hey whatcha doing says one

little seed to me you don t

look like a mustard seed

or a big bird either

i m not says me i m a little

churchmouse but never mind

that what re you doing here

i m hoping for a nice tomb

in good soil and i just hope

and pray that i don t land

on hard ground or the

highway where i ll get eaten

by satan s birds of prey

you said - tombs - are you

sure you didn t mean - home

no i meant tomb says he

you sound like you haven t

heard the story of the

easter seed

the easter seed says me

what s the easter seed

well a long time ago at the

beginning of it all we seeds

lived in paradise we could

sprout into any tree tall and

nice just by willing it to be -

there was no dying no labor

no misery it was perfect

it was a life of fantasy

but what happened says me

an evil seed baron crept into

our world in the dead of

night and stole us seeds

away to a dark dank cave

and there we lay trying to

sprout and get away but

conditions were so bare and

poor we just lay there on the

rocky floor there we stayed

rotting away day after day

then one day the mighty

seedmaster sent down a

golden seed on a ray of light

through a tiny crack in that

cave of night

the golden seed looked just

like us it landed right in the

middle of the worst of us

the evil seed baron didn t

notice him at first instead

he just kept laughing and

muttering curse after curse

i ll get you all says he you ll

soon die in abject pain and

misery nevermore able to

grow into trees or find sweet

peace and sanity

we despaired for our lives

and families but the golden

seed said trust me you ll see

there s a way out of this to a

life full of hope joy and

fruitful victory

the more he spoke the more

we listened and followed him

but then the evil seed baron

found him out betrayed by a

traitorous persimmon seed

with a bittersweet kiss

the evil seed baron beat the

golden seed with a prune

stick until he was broken

and bruised

then the baron with a sneer

of doom says now you die

and here s your tomb and he

placed him in the ground

nevermore ever to be found

but the golden seed knew

more than the evil baron

that the mighty seedmaster

had placed his spirit within

the heart of the seed and

dying to itself only releases

the life within to rise above

the tomb and touch the sky

he was the easter seed and

showed us the way that we

can forever be free

amos