Issue 7 | Summer 2010

Jubilate

For I will consider the purest praise

For the last hymned Amen to usher children running

Forward towards the bell tower doors – ornate and heavy –

To clog the entry – excitement keyed higher –

To loosen the rope from its tethered position

To grab all at once for the sturdy three-in-one –

For the holy hush when a child is chosen

For the benediction – the pastor lighter without his robe –

For the pink hands gripped in prayerful submission –

To explode from the stones towards the sky –

to the dirt –

to the heavens return –

For their simple song expands from sanctuary rafters

For the ears of the church mouse and the alley cat –

For the mouths of mountains and nearby mini-marts –

To let the tongue sing out in delight

To raucously clang – clang – cheer and chatter –

To smell mint on ascent – the sweetest incense of reverend’s tobacco

For the door now open – the sun flooding in –

For the children now rushing out into the streets

For the red rocks and prickly cacti hollering holy hallelujahs to the sky.

 

Filed under: Poetry