by Andrew Taylor-Troutman

“Take and eat,” said my Gran,
lifting a wicker basket
of her homemade crescent rolls.
I grabbed two, one in each hand,
causing her to smile standing there.
Now I wonder if Gran thought
of growing up on the farm,
when there was precious little to spare.
“You go ahead,” was all she replied,
and I would greedily bite through
the crispy browned dough to
the warm buttery inside.
Though I knew a flavor of love,
I had yet to taste of sacrifice.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of Gently Between the Words: Essays and Poems and pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

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