Daily Prompt: Sentences of Reverence

An Intuition of Angels

I have not gone on pilgrimage

or lain prostrate before a saint

but long ago on a high hill

in Wisconsin, when swollen buds

burst from pale purple casings

into tender green, I danced

a liturgy and in their blaze

of autumn color, I sang an anthem.

In later years I have not often

knelt in prayer on kneelers

pulled down at church

but I’ve bent my knees

and bowed my head

into the north wind

driving against me

and when the time came

to turn back, I’ve felt its force

along vertebrae and scapulae

so strong, I knew how wings

must have evolved.

-Allegra Silberstein, 

first published in In the Folds (Rattlesnake Press, 2005); used by permission of the author  

Daily Prompt: Think of a time you felt reverence--in a house of worship, outside, cradling a newborn, laughing with a friend--and write two long, rolling sentences about the experience. Enjoy.

For another poem by Allegra, and more poems for reflection, visit Yoga Stanza.