Folding Altar

 

I carry my church with me

wherever I go, unfolding the altar

of a moment while out walking

with my husband, pausing to pick

a few dandelions gone to seed,

taking a deep breath, then blowing,

sending those silver messengers

into the air above a field,

each one the seed of a prayer

I say every day I'm alive:

Please let me give up all hope

for a better past, and just be here

by the side of the driveway,

watching wisps of clouds turning

pink with evening, then purple,

and listening to the complex solo

of a catbird perched in a maple

as we say goodbye to the light

which may leave the sky tonight

but will stay with us, flickering

for years to come.

--James Crews

[Sunset over the Sequatchie Valley in TN].