Poetic Reflection- Waiting for Angels

The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed

has been planted, that something has begun.                              

–Henri Nouwen

Early Swallowtail enjoying jonquils & adjuga in Nancy’s front yard.

Too old to have another child,

I sometimes think of Sarah.

If angels visit to proclaim

astonishing news,

I’m determined not to laugh.

At 4:30 a.m. we scan for

November Leonid showers.

None sighted, but the sky’s

belly swells with promise.

In early light I find

a praying mantis egg case

on the garden fence.

We dig in daffodil bulbs

with vole-deterrent gravel,

then cover, tamp, and water,

just before first frost.

The deer change coats;

the pines brace and hum.

I don’t see angels

though I sometimes hear wings;

like the daytime stars,

I know they are there.

-Written by Nancy Corson Carter, A Green Bough: Poems for Renewal (2019). Nancy is a member of Church of Reconciliation, an Earth Care Congregation,  in Chapel Hill, NC

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