Thursday, April 27, 2023

Place


Butterflies flutter fly, mid twists of trees,

Pale-winged, like jittery petals in the breeze,

Regents in a world of pollen -- budding blooms.

Intricate pixies -- fragile as breath, ever looms,

Their finitude,

The shadow of death.


Paired wood-doves alight lightly on some twig,

Chestnut plumes weaved smooth, heads preen a jig. 

Ever content cooing a haunting melodic longing,

Beckon bird choirs to the grace of every dawning,

Of their given days,

Of their given breath.


Swarming cicadas  -- trilling crescendo gives them away,

Still unseen as a smoky sky charcoals in the dusk of day.

From depths emerging, for this time, to call and respond,

Their season to mate, to spawn, and be predated upon,

'Til their ranks dwindle,

And only silence is left.


One wanderer wandering in his waning summers,

His steps fall heavier, his frame yields, he lumbers,

Contrary to fellow creatures -- a sojourner out of place,

Averting the beatific vision, like the parents of our race,

Beloved and yet breathless,

Before the very life breath,

Of God.


Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Lazarus Hope


This day he is risen, he is risen indeed,
Both liturgy and hymn confess it is so.
Yet morning light, through the window,
Only a dawning of another day of need,
Heralds.

John the revelator, beloved and exiled,
Witnessed the great dragon cast down,
By a son of man draped in crystal gown,
Crucified lamb, risen Lord of all reconciled,
Behold.

Chapels to cathedrals, in epochs of waiting,
So my own journey,  in a smattering of days
Luster's dimming radiance of languishing rays,
The eucharistic gospel with the fire abating,
Grows cold.

Still, Lazarus and Thomas cannot forget,
That cherished behold the fragility of death,
Cold bodies and spirits quiver with new breath,
Charity and hope overshadow sorrow and regret.
As foretold,
As retold.

Hope,
Still.



Saturday, April 8, 2023

Glacial Rest



Wintry zephyrs dash and dart 'mid trees and walls,

Skating o'er grass, whispering through windows.

As clouds shiver in the twilight, sleeting misty,

O'er every dormant thing! Frosty imps proceed,

Collecting icy cumulous tears, with glassy reed--

To gloss each branch, each leaf -- clear and crispy.

As dormers and portholes crystal smeared shadows,

Which glaciate lovely as frost whirls and sprawls,

O'er glade or wood, or nook,

O'er every glacial rest.

Hush.