This Graceful Call
Two Poems
By Sarah Law
Early Morning in the Shrine Gardens
They are secretly pleased, the bees,
at this summertime emptiness;
the lavender expands her hands
and bumbles kiss each finger–
a pollen communion. Mist enacts
a hazy censing, and the grass
distils last night’s orisons as
a scattering of pearls. A starling’s
well-versed in her canticle:
wood pigeons murmur responses.
Rising sunlight gives the blessing –
there is honey to be made.
Norton’s Café
I came to rather love you –
your quiet all-day litany of chatter,
never offensive, nor overly formal,
round tables easily shared, avoiding
the rigid rows of canteen meals – no,
Norton’s asks no questions, offers
baked potatoes, sandwiches,
indulgent cakes and strong black coffee,
and anyone can visit – oddly-dressed, transient, the day’s handwritten specials,
all blessed by Norfolk sunlight.
I have spent summer evenings here,
with journal and a glass of wine,
weary, sketching myself into some
sort of comfort. Then there was that time
when a woman dropped her cartons
of farm-shop soup, and the waiting staff
helped her so kindly, mopping
the accident away – as though it were
their pleasure to serve her, as though
this was the reason they were there
– this graceful call to prayer.
Sarah Law—poet, tutor, occasional critic, and sometime fiction writer—is the Editor-in-Chief of Amethyst Review. She has published five poetry collections, with a sixth, Thérèse: Poems forthcoming from Paraclete Press. Her pamphlet, My Converted Father, is available from Broken Sleep Books. Recent work is published in Saint Katherine Review, The Windhover, Psaltery & Lyre; Amaryllis, Stride; Ink, Sweat & Tears; Soul-Lit; Riggwelter and others. Follow her on Twitter @drsarahlaw
Image Credit: Patricia