INCANTATION


This autumn, paint yourself as a witch.
Beware whom you serve
while miss-spelling the universe
with floating letters conjured
to restore harmony.


Salvation approaches moment by moment
as the communion of saints
waltz on the far horizon
wielding sticks, stones, roots, and bones
signed and encrusted with rain, dew, and tears.


Desiccated corn stalks rustle in the fields
beneath the copper wine moon.
Fresh blood washes the streets
of Baghdad, Beirut, Darfur.
Sleep lightly, pray for peace.

 

                      --- Patricia Boutilier

 

 

Patricia Boutilier is a nurse, massage therapist and Reiki Master working with people with Alzheimer's and dementia.  Her poems have appeared in Goblinfruit, Waterways:Poetry in the Mainstream, and Astropoetica.