Tsega Demissie
Be ablaze even in the certain approach of dusk,
for on a hill we forged this beacon knowing
even in total darkness there is some light.
You with your delicate fingers laid down our winter coats,
I with calloused ones gathered the firewood, as we kindled a flame praying.
Be ablaze even in the certain approach of dusk.
By dawn our fire ceased to exist leaving ghostly illusions of what was.
Silently I approached you in angelic sleep, tracing your holy brow with my sinful hands, telling myself
even in total darkness there is some light.
So I left you, and walked to adjacent lands hoping to find stone and clay.
Then I could build a foundation on which our flame could burn brightly, reassured that it would
be ablaze even in the certain approach of dusk.
I wandered out in cloudy lights and the tones were dismal with sickly grays and pallid whites,
and for a moment in time I saw the utter truth of this land, but I remembered our prayer that
even in total darkness there is some light.
After journey I came upon our violet hill, carrying what little I had, but I did not feel your presence.
Desperately I glorified pagan gods forgetting your sweet hymns; they were apathetic, so I cried out:
Be ablaze even in the certain approach of dusk.
Weeping I approached our cliff staring into the sapphire eyes of redemption, its glare almost calming.
Raising my soul I prepared myself for assured damnation, forgetting
even in total darkness there is some light.
Unaware I inhaled familiar scents of soft evergreens and felt the feathery textures of your winter coat.
In revelation you came to me upon a cloud with ivory, and together we built this beacon, remembering to
be ablaze even in the certain approach of dusk, because
even in total darkness there is some light.
previous. next.
Blogroll
- Brazos Bookstore
- Central Thoughts Journal
- Contemporary Arts Museum
- Domy Books
- Encore Theatre
- Foelber Pottery and Poetry Collaboration
- Houston Center for Photography
- Houston Community College-Central
- Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series
- Kaboom Books
- Lawndale Art Center
- Mildred's Umbrella
- Nuestra Palabra
- Station
- The Menil Collection