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Two Sabbath Sonnets

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Two Sabbath Sonnets

 

I.

 

This day too many sheep fall into wells

To keep my mind on that which brings me peace.

I always drift, distracted by the noise;

Echoes of the perpetual bleating.

 

An ox cries, too, felled by thoughtless blunder,

And will not wait; and burdened by this beast

Of burden, I work and worry and fret,

And this day becomes any other day.

 

But when You took him in Your hands to heal,

Were Your thoughts of energy expended,

Of stolen time, of restlessness of mind,

Or of the love in the ailed man's cured eyes?

 

I want to rest my mind in the beauty

Of Creation. Be calm, just for today.

 

II.

 

On my porch beneath unworried sparrow song:

A good book and/or the Good Book,

The engine hum and pavement crackle

Of the occasional passerby,

Lazy cat at my feet,

And the leaves that dance to the music they (themselves) create:

 

A rustle — not the bustle,

Not the commotion nor the clutter,

Not the struggle nor the weight

Of all the fallen things

That matter so much and not at all,

Not the daily death of life.

 

Hello, Creation, where have you been?

Six days I've missed you, on the seventh I rest.

 

 

Kevin Gray has been published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and is the September 2019 Winner of the Gotham Writers Stories Everywhere Competition. He is a Commercial Real Estate Broker and Army Veteran, and resides in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, daughter, dog, and cat.

Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

 

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