Day 25 of Poetry Month...To Gather You Safely Home

If I had a string of a thousand green rondelle beads, 

I would pray your name like a Rosary upon each one, 

And my prayers, like words spoken on feathers

Would fly heavenward through an East-facing window to God’s ears,

Not like a radio turned to fuzz, but like a crystal-clear choir of nightingales.

If I had a stick of dynamite…no, one stick is never enough.

I would line ten thousand sticks in a row and light the fuses.

I would blow up the years and send the particles flying like broken sharks’ teeth

Till they came to settle once again in the time before you left.

I would search the stars for you in our mother’s shoes 

And gather you safely home.

©Sally Stevens 2007