Monday, December 8, 2008

In Midwinter: An Advent Poem from New Orleans

Winter sky.
Bare branches
Backs arched up, out.
A cat licking its paws
In the yard next door.
The pink of slavequarter walls
Made nacreous by failing day.

And I.

What voice sings within me
And in the glory of shifting light
Atop the oak, amidst its limbs?

Why does the common grace
Of closing year
Return me to myself and hope
Amidst the ruins?

Out of the East war threatens.
Westward ride the Horsemen.

And I sit
Wait
Wonder.

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