Parable of the Fig Tree at the Protest

After Luke 13:6-9

They said: It bears no fruit.
Year after year, we have waited.
Nothing changes.

They said: We marched.
We signed.
We prayed.
And still, the world is what it was.

They said: Cut it down.
Hope is a wasting of soil.

But the gardener knelt in the dirt,
his hands full of mercy,
and whispered:
Let it be.

One more season.

One more chance
for roots to drink deep,
for the impossible fruit
to ripen in the sun.