Page 115 - Eggs and Ashes pages

114 Eggs and Ashes

The quiet insistence of your Word

What I notice most about this place
is the wind, veering and backing
into my corner, eddying,
gusting, niggling,
tangling hair, finding the contours of my face
with icy fingers.

Yesterday I had a place in the sun.
It’s easy to pray with silences,
warm light, and seabirds calling.

Today is hard. I pull my collar up,
and draw my fingers, monk-like,
into my sleeves. The wind
buffets my ears, so I no longer
hear your voice in the song of the lark,
the flutter of small birds.

Lord, do not let this northeast wind,
or any other, deafen me
to the still, small voice,
the quiet insistence of your Word.

Alma Hamilton