Page 37 - April 2016

weAvInG
Precise abstraction
can weave this tapestry of praise
that fails to assemble in
mere words, paper, and ink.
The stitched outline of worship,
the exact color of laughter,
the texture of peace
exist like synapses
and the electrical spark of a heartbeat. Comprehension of eternity eludes me
like fine silk between my fingers,
even as colors collide and shift in the light like something I once understood
and found familiar.
Yet in this mystery
there is homecoming and belonging.
Mercy, like a worn, precious quilt,
is more comforting each time
I fold my weary limbs into its weight.
even as my awe increases at the sheen
and fluidity of foreign fabrics
and patterns that seem to sing in their intricacy, the heavy, soft flannel that is grace
is smooth over self-inflicted wounds
and gentle like the wind.
so I love You for Your familiarity and mystery,
Your untouchable beauty and infinite dichotomies that make You unimaginable and trustworthy.
enfolded in enigma
and gazing on this eternal tapestry,
I am again searching for words,
like a weaver would sort through threads, that would adequately
describe the indescribable.
|katie Lanting is a writer and an actress, born and raised in northern Arizona.
Come To my LAnd
Come to my Land
my darling dear
and I shall give you turquoise skies with those armadas of thunderheads that march forth from the peaks
from saint swithun’s day to Michelmas which flicker at night
like Paschal candlelight
and the rain which falls like
tears from Orion.
I will give to you a technicolor desert, my darling dear;
and the emerald trees upon the bank of the stream of jadestone.
And I give the vines that grow deep in the bones of forgotten seas;
the fossil beeches, and the lost desert and those ancient rivers of fire turned to blackened stone.
I will pour for you tannat,
my darling dear
that stains aged wood and medal: the blood of ancient kings
poured and squeezed
to dream within darkened oak barrel of candlelight and laughter —
the blood of the earth
and the tears of the sky.
I will give you a share
of the kingdoms of earth and sky,
my darling dear,
made of bone and stone
and feather-cloaked crag.
I will give you fountains of fire and water from the center of the earth
and the pines that sway and creak
in the winds of winter and summer.
I will give you an island
in the sea of time,
floating in the sky and
a cathedral hewn from living stone where you can sing
in the language from across the sea. And I will place upon your brow
a coronet of copper and coral
if you come to the Land,
and be my bride and queen, my darling dear.
| vladimir erimou writes from mingus mountain.
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • APRIL 2016 • 37