This Day

Cutting hydrangea in the 

Dark of the night sky, 

No light but 

Moonlight

They’re drying into late autumn

And how beautiful they are on the

Eve of my birthday. 

Peter brings me cut flowers 

And then I think

To also cut some holly

Brilliant 

Berries 

Red and disappearing as I turn

This way and that from and 

Into moonlight,

My fingers feeling the rough bark

Making my way to the place

Each stem grows away from

The branch before I clip

Tomorrow when the sky grows light

I’ll harvest more from this 

Bounteous patch of life that we tend, 

That we love, careful to give thanks,

And I might keep clipping, and 

Clipping, cutting and bringing in

Until the whole house is 

Filled with magic 

As the living, once living, 

Drying

Dying 

Take over every space,

Desiccating 

Petal and tendril, 

Still-supple living stem, her leaves

Crawling into the 

Corners and crevices, hooking

Into peeling plaster and uneven 

Floorboards—

Isn’t that the way life goes on,

Everywhere? 

Blooming, growing, surprising, 

Yearning, reaching, praying, balancing,

Accepting, praising and always, if we 

Give in, 

Lifting into light?