Poem: Praying with one eye open

published in 2003, appeared in Seattle School of Theology and Ministry Review

praying with one eye open.
Ned Hayes

(after Mark Strand)

 

through dark windows,

the clouds move like

one thinks a bird

might, old ghost

caught by light,

scattered feathers

fractured

snow.

on this morning, Pentecost,

tremors of brass

burst the air

yet my eyes

are closed, I am

still

as the Christ

who sleeps on crosses

everywhere, that

dead thing now

and ever.

yet

does some flame still

lip this shore,

rousing

all the mingled mass

of tongues

and what wind unscented

by decay

licks through this space?

what fires flit still

over us

sleeping and waking

enthralled by a divine demon

unto grace?

 

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Poem: Praying with one eye open was originally published on Ned Hayes