The Wheat that Springeth Green


A wheat field near Chase Lane in Kenilworth, looking toward the site of Henry V's Pleasaunce.

Yesterday on my walk I came across this field of wheat, with its soft green tassels waving in the strong breeze. The effect was like wind on water. The entire field seemed fluid and alive. It was, strangely, one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in England. The great churches and cathedrals and ruined abbeys impress me more with their sense of history and grandeur than with their spirituality. But the wind through the tender green wheat was like a spirit made manifest. It rippled through the wheat and seemed to pass through me, leaving me quite at peace. I also imagined what Minnesota must have been like, a hundred years ago and more, when wheat, not soybeans and corn, sprang from the beautiful rolling hills of the former prairie, swelling against the dramatic Minnesota sky.