Day Light

Benedicamus Domino ~ with
a soft knock for the new day
Deo gratias ~ in
obedient embrace for the cold sunrise.

The light is sharp enough
to shave by ~ sting the flesh
and fleck the blood.

Benedicamus Domino ~ these
words dissolve on the tongue
Deo gratias ~ they evoke
and beckon ~ sidestep the confrontation
of a native liturgy.

And the heart coughs and turns
the spirit to the altar rail:
if we wear secular sandals, we
will have to put them off
to clear that fence.

Benedicamus Domino ~ and
the rest is in the silence.

The Cistercian monks at Pluscarden Abbey use the Benedicamus as an early morning wake-up call.

Included in Found Poems.