Renewal

I love going into that office

warmed by coffee,

the professor’s quick smile,

spirit-sweetness,

 

tongue-guarded knowledge

doled out with wisdom,

ingested books, freely shared,

but cannot walk to his door.

 

I stand stupidly, hotly—

diffusion intensified

in translucence

of an over-lighted hall—

 

leaving without knowing

why I came.  Then seated on

the concrete wall, my body

absorbing autumnal chill,

 

I hold my face upward.

Black objects swirl

against the cloud-infested sky.

Leaves?  . . . swallows?

 

There is a tree, this afternoon,

in whose blue-gray shadows

the wind touches me gently.

 

first published in Domicile

Another Bit of Inspiration

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.

–St. Clement of Alexandra