Benediction
by Mirjana Villeneuve
The evening sun breaks its heart open
on the hard edge of the world.
Red soaks the loose threads of cloud
caught in pine boughs, pools in the cup
of the valley where the river ripples
whispered vespers. Barefoot in a patch
of wild thyme, I watch
the spilling out.
Brush a stray ant from my ankle,
rest my chin on my knees.
I would let the sun draw me to itself
if it wanted to. I would lose myself in the blaze,
go up in midday flame, blood and bone
adrift in the embers
of twilight. I long to love
so openly. I long to be claimed
by a beauty that keeps its promise
of return.Mirjana Villeneuve is a writer and High School English teacher in Ottawa. Her work has appeared online and in print in Presence Journal, Prism Journal, the Lake Effect 9 Anthology (Upstart Press, 2019), Restoration, and The Catholic Millennial.
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