Revelations 8:3-4
And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
Summer Blessing
The hills wear gray today.
And for one hour,
the horizon is lost in mist.
In the hollows,
it sits solidly.
Along the road, watery webs string from weed
to weed.
It’s July, but I can see my breath,
can feel the damp assurance
of autumn.
At 6 a.m.
there is only You,
only me.
Here the unspoken words of my prayers
sleep protected in heart pockets
like vapors
wrapped in velvet.
Here in this dawn cocoon
I am unafraid as I unwrap each word:
a series of small nouns,
an urgent adverb.
And then a single verb rises,
tentative at first,
then determined to break
for sky.
Bless
Bless me
Bless me Father
for I have sinned.
Exodus 34: 33-35
The face of Moses kept shining and after he had spoken with the people, he covered his face with a veil. . . he would put the veil back on until the next time he went to speak with the Lord.
Transfiguration
I seldom look up,
for each morning the panorama of green overwhelms me:
waves of hickory and oak,
elm and black walnut.
At once, the deep green forest
in the gullies,
then silver and sage
at the ridge.
The emerald sheen of new mown fields,
the yellow-green of roadside yarrow
and stems of sweet clover.
I walk and wear the veil of green at dawn.
And when I return home,
I cannot look upon the ordinary things of my day.
I pull the far corner of the veil across my eyes
and do not speak.
Our Father who art in Heaven:
the hazy vista of eastern Davis County,
the unexpected ditch of day lilies,
the sweet mingling of clover
and dew at dawn.
And above,
five redwing blackbirds
waving in the scarlet light
of the the first day.
