Poet’s Ulysses Pact with the World

 

Hold me against the beauty of ordinary things

a steaming cup of coffee in the cool early morning

the whap of wind through damp sheets on the clothesline         

one brilliant crow at the speckled granite birdbath

a wide-winged black arrow against the blue palette of sky

 

Hold me so I can bear the beauty of ordinary things

a heaven tall fir dancing with cone castanets

the white grace of birch filigreed with pink necklace buds

an unleafed April heat striking wet warmed earth

the rejoicing in ditches of wood frogs and spring peepers

 

Hold me against the beauty of ordinary things

so the flame of the Japanese maple cannot consume me

the color calliope of fall leaves on the sidewalk strike me blind

a child’s trusting hand in mine not drop me to my knees

make me weep with gratitude

 

Hold me fast against the extraordinary beauty of this ordinary world

so I may rest within its generous heart

 

Published in Blue Heron Review

https://blueheronreview.com/blue-heron-review-issue-4-summer2015/