Grace

by Nina Heiser


the curve of her neck
arching like the lift
of the gooseneck loosestrife
we planted in border gardens
of a home that
briefly passing with a promise
of permanence an illusory forever
was once ours

tiny white blossoms delicate
as the lace the Irish women tatted in their time
those women who waged solitary wars
shedding their sorrows in silence
cold in their knowledge of life’s
fragility

crystal dancers embroider
her lashes
lids landing in that line of lower cilia
to kiss her cheeks
soft pink petals uncurling
the hint of a smile dewy tender
opening to receive the day
raising a child’s smile
luminescent and alive

pale as new
snow  
holding all colors
she straddles the line
calls on rainbows to follow her
still      she     dreams
Sufis spinning silken circles
flashing beats
stomping
time

I hear chimes singing
from lowered branches
through cinnamon breezes
I sit unmoving
in a womb of memory
the space between us
filaments of darkness
filled
wide shining
this love
this animating
light


* * * * *

Nina Heiser is a poet, writer and retired journalist currently living in central Florida and New York. Her work has appeared in Tuck Magazine; Cadence, the Florida State Poets Association Anthology; Vociferous Press anthology Screaming from the Silence; Embark Literary Journal; and Gargoyle Magazine. Her poetry and photographs have been featured in Pendemics Journal, and Of Poets & Poetry.