My kitchen window sill altar: Jesus, a fallen Orchid, and the bones of a crucifix fish I found on the Galveston beach years ago: Ariopsis felis (hardhead sea catfish, Ariidae).
Who It
Is Accuses Us
By
Linda Pastan
Who it
is accuses us of safety,
as if
the family were soldiers
instead
of hostages,
as if
the gardens were not mined
with
explosive peonies,
as if
the most common death
were
not by household accident?
We have
chosen the dangerous life.
Consider
the pale necks of the children
under
their colored head scarves,
the
skin around the husband's eyes, flayed
by
guilt and promises.
You who
risk no more than your own skins
I tell
you household Gods
are
jealous Gods.
They
will cover your window sills
with
the dust of sunsets;
they
will poison your secret wells
with
longing.
From:
"Waiting For My Life" by Linda Pastan, page 34
-----------------------------------
"The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through." ~Edna St. Vincent Millay........from her amazing poem, Renascence.
