NaPoWriMo - day five

ghost

i, too, would have thought

you were a ghost --

would have trembled,

would have wrapped myself

in disbelieving dread

thinking you still

dead and buried,

hidden behind the stone,

heavy-hearted.

i, too, would have wanted

proof that you had indeed risen,

would have placed my hands

in your hands, my hand

in your side, pressed myself

against you to test your presence.

i carry that proof

like a stone

in the palm of my hand,

polished smooth

by my remembering,

made beautiful

by my longing,

laden with hope.

Benediction by Nicholas Samaras - NPM5

For what we are given. 

For being mindful of what we are given.

For those who grieve and those who celebrate.
For those who remain grateful in the face of everything.

For the assembly of words that links us together.
For individual speech that becomes speech shared.

For the transformations a written page may effect in us.
For those who pay attention.

For the teachers who gave us the chrysalis of language.
For the comrades of the heart who left us signposts.

For the parent who gave us the one ethic of discipline.
For ourselves who may take discipline to heart, and not resent it.

For the second chance that is the writing down.
For those who know that half of poetry is silence.

For the language of breath, and the breath that is prayer.
For those who wake to light, and know the depths of sacrament.

For this common meal, and us who bow our heads and partake.
For those who remember that “So be it” is also written

Amen.

Samaras, Nicholas "Benediction" American Psalm, World Psalm. Ashland: The Ashland Poetry Press, 2014. 156.