The Cinnamon Roll at the End of the World

I invited a neighborhood friend (one of my best retreat friends who is now my neighbor!) over for a cinnamon roll and a chat yesterday morning.  I planned to bake bread, and I thought I might just transform a bit of bread dough into cinnamon rolls.  But then I decided I wanted something more special, and I made a batch of pumpkin cinnamon rolls from this recipe.

As I rolled out the dough, in a way that I rarely do for just myself, I thought of that quote attributed to Martin Luther, about the world ending tomorrow.  I thought, if the world was ending tomorrow, I'd be making these kind of luxurious pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

I looked up the Martin Luther quote, ignored the debate over whether or not Luther actually said such a thing, and found a quote at an environmental stewardship website:  "As the story goes, when Martin Luther was asked what he would do if the world were to end tomorrow, he answered, 'I would plant an apple tree today.'”

I thought, if the world were to end tomorrow, I would make a batch of cinnamon rolls--two batches, one for today, and one for tomorrow.

I decided to use extra pecans and sugar because my friend was coming over for coffee, and a poem started to sprout in my brain.  I wrote down these lines:

If the world was on schedule to end
tomorrow, some of us would plant
an apple tree. Others would spend
the evening phoning every friend.

I would make two pans
of cinnamon rolls, one for tonight,
and one for the morning of the day
the world was on schedule to end.

I wrote a few more stanzas and let the poem sit (or rise, perhaps) overnight.  This morning, I added another line here or there, and I'll let it sit longer.

I am so pleased to have a poem appear, unanticipated, almost fully formed.  I am happy that I was alert enough to realize the potential in a line from Martin Luther and a batch of pumpkin cinnamon rolls.