Blessings

art by Walter Koessler

 

Blessings

blessings fall like snowflakes in your eyes
bring tears
create frozen channels on your breast
wet your pants in embarrassing places
and scurry to your feet
giving you blue toe.

blessings keep you grateful like fires
in the night
flickering on your chest hairs,
burning in your retina
wafting up genie smoke toward the sky
tempting you to make a wish,
swallow a burning sword
and puff out dragon breath.

beware the death of the blessing
instead hear in the distance
the laughter of God

Definition #220 Deck

tree frog on deck 5-23-15

Selfie on deck 5-23-15

Children believe in the power
of animals, tucked into their feathers
and shells; they believe

in blessings: the sprinkle
of holy water, each tiny
unexplained life.

“Blessing of the Animals” by Faith Shearin from Telling the Bees. © Stephen Austin State University Press, 2015.