"A Silent Promise"
A poem by Jay Emerson Johnson
Light comes back
as it always does
just before Christmas Day
like finding a treasured keepsake
forgotten in attic recesses
and I start to think about Hoovering up
brittle evergreen needles,
fingering the stubborn ones
out from a wooly carpet’s fibers.
Light comes back slowly
tracing an ancient arc
across the winter sky
and I kneel on hardwood
straining to scoop up
a stray ornament
from a dusty corner
just out of reach
with sunlight
dappling my vision.
with a promise
silent as the stars –
This simple, tender flesh
covering our hands
wrinkling our knees
layering our faces
shall be seen
revealed as a divine gift
for this world
indeed, an epiphany.
