Hawthorn

 

If the hand of God should hold me,

what blesséd thing would I do first?

By God, I’d light a fire to warm us,

tend the rye and sharpen the scythe,

string the beans, burn the weeds,

dip candles for the long days ahead,

scrape hides and fill pages with poems,

say a small kindness to Brother Aedh,

gather seaweed to rot winterlong,

stack stones in a wall-making prayer.

 

If the hand of God should hold me,

that day would look much like this day,

all of us rain-washed of grime and salt,

clean, cold and in need of warmth.

On that day, I will light a fire, I say

gently to old Brother Aedh as he sleeps –

then wander out to gather driftwood.

As always, in evening near the hearth,

when the fire’s red strength wells up,

we open our hands and fill ourselves.

 

 

 

SEAN M. CONREY ~ POET’S PAGE

 

 

Available through ~ IndieBound ~ Ingram Content Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Fine Book Distributors & Retailers

THE BOOK OF TREES by Sean M. Conrey  *  ISBN-13: 978-0-9986404-3-3  *  ISBN 10: 0-9986404-3
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * 2053 Cortlandt, Suite 200 * Houston, TX 77008  * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Phone: 281-734-8721 * Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * www.saintjulianpress.com