Siftings
Turn around
and let them settle,
the siftings.
Cold flames fall as ashes
through the grate.
Snow sifts through cedars.
Sand funnels through wire
into pyramidal mounds.
Bolting cloths of silk,
linen and hair refine
flour to it's finest.
Cool breezes sift through lace
and annealed light
through the heavens
into a dragonfly's eye.
Seeds sift through
the bodies of birds,
recollections through the brain.
Redemption,
under the tongue,
through the teeth,
sifted from scripture,
prayers from the dark,
sincerity from pain.
Papery silhouettes are sifted
from shadows.
Powdered sugar drifts
from a sieve
in delicate tracery,
sweet from the shrill,
loss from sacrifice,
days from dawn,
seasons from the sun,
years sifting through eternity.
Turn around
and let them settle,
the siftings.
Cold flames fall as ashes
through the grate.
Snow sifts through cedars.
Sand funnels through wire
into pyramidal mounds.
Bolting cloths of silk,
linen and hair refine
flour to it's finest.
Cool breezes sift through lace
and annealed light
through the heavens
into a dragonfly's eye.
Seeds sift through
the bodies of birds,
recollections through the brain.
Redemption,
under the tongue,
through the teeth,
sifted from scripture,
prayers from the dark,
sincerity from pain.
Papery silhouettes are sifted
from shadows.
Powdered sugar drifts
from a sieve
in delicate tracery,
sweet from the shrill,
loss from sacrifice,
days from dawn,
seasons from the sun,
years sifting through eternity.
Bionote
Joyce Joslin Lorenson lives in Rhode Island, U.S.A., grew up on a dairy farm and records the daily happenings in nature around her rural home. She has been published in several print and electronic journals.