A Place Beyond a Song
After we younglings
in choir loft
intone our last song
close our hymnals
we wander down uneven steps
kneel beside statues
lit with flickering candles
burning with intention
melting so silent
smell dripping wax
just listening
After awhile
a few fidget wiggle
reinvent disappear
to backyard tree forts
Box Car adventures
rowdy hop-scotch
follies that bedevil
But the rest of us silent
innocent wonder
not even a fragment
of hymn begs attention
the rest of us
so quiet are here
kneeling between
the shallows of the mind
and the deep connection
to the unknown
just listening
Sunflowers
Congregation
haloed pilgrims
bearing witness at dawn
follow shining name sake
through each day
pirouette away
as light falters
Fiery border
on country road
inspiration
for Van Gough’s brush
statues soak in crystal vase
on my dining room table
soon to be seeds
to nourish oil to anoint
When withered heads
bend spines become brittle
mice maze-scurry beneath
shadowy black birds wings over
steadiness of stars
glow them brave for harvest
Marianne Lyon has been a music teacher for 43 years. After teaching in Hong Kong she returned to the Napa Valley and has been published in various literary magazines and reviews. Nominated for the Pushcart Award 2016. She has spent time teaching in Nicaragua. She is a member of the California Writers Club, Solstice Writers in St. Helena California. She is an Adjunct Professor at Touro University Vallejo California. She was awarded the Napa Country Poet Laureate 2021 title.