Owl of the Desert
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​
​New Jerusalem

​Walking down the aisle
we dreamed.
Wedding guests,
names now in a book:
   sentinels holding
   their peace.
 
     Look, the bride.
     Who designed that gown?
     See her dazzling smile?
     What impeccable style.
     O, her hips swaying side to side:
     Watch her

     stride
        down
           the endless mile―
     Meanwhile
what happened
to our dream,
that poor little thing?
     Someone
     find a groom.

     He mustn't miss
     this new regime
throwing rice across the floor,
scrabbling our bodice,
drawing against the garter 
in the ineluctable place.

We are multi-petaled anemones 
made from plaster of paris
arranged in a Pompeiian vase.
The rituals, our vows―lips
meeting in a seasoned
turnstile kiss―
​
     Weddings
     are for letting go.
Dreams 
disappear 
across the thresholds
we cannot cross.

     Come, ring bearer,
cast these beams 
from our glass eye;
reconcile the fullness
of these times,
the Gentile lie.

     Ah, the altar's
     live-stream
     has gone
     blank.
Home
© COPYRIGHT 2019 - 2025
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Fleeing Egypt >
      • Tower of Babel
      • The Orchard
      • Tithing Settlement
      • Chastity for Churches
      • Sign
      • Cleaning House
      • Elijah
      • Rulers of Sodom
      • Beware
      • Two Churches
      • Beginning At My Sanctuary
      • Toll Road
      • Get it Strait
      • Corporation Sole
      • The Religion of the Circle R
      • Fig Tree
      • Eve
      • New Jerusalem
      • Shemlon's Shore
    • Ascending Sinai >
      • Ark
      • Sin of the Calf
      • An Idol Observation
      • Dew from Heaven
      • I love you, Elder Holland
      • Easter
      • How Sweet
      • Haiku
      • The Barn
      • Patron Saint
      • A Conversation with Brigham Young
      • Mine Testimony
      • The Meadow
      • The Gardens
      • Ice Fishing
      • Without End
      • Forest
      • Continental Divide
      • A Great Sacrifice
    • Promised Land >
      • Lanolin
      • Zion
      • Wisdom
      • Take Up Your Cross
      • Was the Sun the Same
      • Plain and Precious
      • Bridegroom
      • Faith
      • Amos
      • But First
      • Wax
      • Parable of the Piano
      • Repentance
      • Wake Up, Child
      • Cold Storage
      • Covered Wagon
      • Multiply and Replenish
      • Rollercoaster
      • The Baptist
    • Seven Stations of the Cross >
      • Jesus Condemned to Die >
        • Life Signs
        • Fashionable Religion
        • Tithing Declaration
        • A Pretty Important Detail
        • Jesus is All
        • Salt Lake Temple
        • Zion in the Lion's Den
        • High Noon
        • Bookmark
      • Jesus Stumbles and Falls >
        • Unveil
        • But Faith
        • Sifting
        • The Ballerina
        • Credit Declined
        • Prayer Circles
        • Work Out Your Salvation
        • Lovebirds
        • Unrequited
      • Simon of Cyrene Bears the Cross >
        • Proxy
        • Chartres
        • Like the Nile
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Not Born
        • Parable of the Crossing
      • Women of Jerusalem Weep >
        • With A Price
        • Fields of Asphodel
        • Night
        • Desert Rose
        • Goodbye
        • Spring Snow
      • Jesus Stripped of His Garment >
        • Love Letter
        • I am disquieted
        • Dream
        • Noah's Wife
        • Parable of the Five Sons
        • Eggshell
      • Jesus Nailed to the Cross
      • Burial and Resurrection
  • Blog
    • Previous Posts >
      • 2025 Posts
      • 2024 Posts
      • 2023 Posts
      • 2022 Posts
      • 2021 Posts
      • 2020 Posts
  • About
  • Contact