The Madrigal

THE MADRIGAL

I listened

To a madrigal—

Fire, fire, fire,

They sang

So brightly,

Ethereal,

I imagined

The song itself,

Everyone

Consumed

By flames.

Originally published in Eastlit (August 1, 2015)

Element of Fire, detail by Liz Whaley

Song of the Solitary

SONG OF THE SOLITARY

The moon abides invisibly in a day painted white.

At my shoulder a dark green shadow is floating, the sea.

Breakers rush toward shore, roaring lions inside a wind tunnel.

Peering within myself, I see bottomless water.

Stillness enters the space between two swells of breath.

Waiting is a desert journey, a dry mountain disappearing into the skies.

Solitude, a dove, hovers, bearing a gift.

For Father Pat Giordano, SJ

Trwyn Du Lighthouse