Poetry
Cowles, Christopher
POEMS Christopher Cowles Farewell beyond Mortality When I set out to rest On death's sweet wing I saw all things as beautiful As they must ever be From childhood's gladness til my waiting...
...And from her unmourned liquid members Languid in the dust New dark and fragrant with retiring day, She must return in mist To catch my yearning kiss Tossed through the wind across the darkening glade...
...So, when I raise my eyes to glance at you I greet that moment where no anxious will Has burrowed in to eat and spoil and kill To gorge the murderous hungers of the world...
...And so not open like the silent rose Patiently balanced on the April wind Vivid as blood, in beads of silver dew And rich and red without our rage of wills...
...To a Nun Seen on Her Way to Prayers The kindness memory left beautiful Returns without a movement In desire through which love's moment past Might strive to make time to be close And closed...
...Now, sharing common hope, you draw from view Beyond the sweet song of the past Given to you and me...
...For you are one for God forgotten Called, and recalled to be Silent and still alone in Him Through innocent memory...
...POEMS Christopher Cowles Farewell beyond Mortality When I set out to rest On death's sweet wing I saw all things as beautiful As they must ever be From childhood's gladness til my waiting grave The lily virgin sings Up from the black soil where she soon must fade...
Vol. 121 • April 1994 • No. 8
