Bryony Rogers
Centuries of men
An old Abbey on a cold winter’s night, snow
falling. Centuries of men
wrapped in rough brown cloth
are singing. I wipe tears
from eyes in a white face, ancient, my own. Voices
echo out through the garden, across icy fields,
to the river. Trees
shiver their last leaves, birds hold their breath.
I’ve been coming here for years, seen the river
cut rock into sand
and run it out to the sea. The men keep singing
Domine, Domine. Amongst the trees
by the river, a deer stops. His black eye
holds light.
He stands and listens, hears
seeds turn in the black earth, water
running by, and, over us all,
the wide arc of the sky,
the endless stars.
falling. Centuries of men
wrapped in rough brown cloth
are singing. I wipe tears
from eyes in a white face, ancient, my own. Voices
echo out through the garden, across icy fields,
to the river. Trees
shiver their last leaves, birds hold their breath.
I’ve been coming here for years, seen the river
cut rock into sand
and run it out to the sea. The men keep singing
Domine, Domine. Amongst the trees
by the river, a deer stops. His black eye
holds light.
He stands and listens, hears
seeds turn in the black earth, water
running by, and, over us all,
the wide arc of the sky,
the endless stars.
Page(s) 36
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