Poet Daniel Leach reflects on Easter in his home state of Texas. The poet meditates on the sacred Word which works through us all—often without our ever really knowing why or how. Today we celebrate that mystery.
Here, where winter never really comes,
How so, this vast profusion of wildflowers,
These waves of jasmine sweet upon the wind,
This hum and trill and trickling flow of life?
There was no deathlike sleep in endless nights
Or desperate, lean searching amid the cold
From which to burst forth now in joyous rebirth,
Only sad, drooping summer days ahead,
Where scorching sun seems to kill all life and thought;
And yet, for one brief moment, all the world
Proclaims itself reborn! The luscious green
Of grass and budding boughs waves brief in light
Against the darkening storm off in the West
Like a moist breath that plays upon the cheek.
And I feel that old aching in the heart
Of long lost loves in Springs gone by,
And buried hopes I dared not dream again.
But oh, I think, this could not ever then
When I was young, have made me cry like this,
Or deep the heaving sigh at the sweet sight
Of little child with sunlit, breezy curls,
Oh, I am mindful now of nearing death,
And greet as brother the deep, soft twilight,
And the immeasurably distant stars above,
That over eons die and are reborn
In other forms as is all this below,
And souls who feel the beauty of that Spring
Eternal, watch and weep and breathe their sighs
Out into the unfolding universe,
Where they are like the silent, primal Word
That never dies but creates ever new.
Daniel Leach is a poet living in Houston, Texas. He has spent much of his life fighting for the ideals of classical culture and poetry. His first volume of poetry, compiling over 20 years of composition, is entitled Voices on the Wind. His second volume is entitled Places the Soul Goes.
The Devil at Woodstock
I was a mere sixteen that Summer day We all piled in a beat-up car and drove To Woodstock, or someplace we had been told That a great spectacle was to occur— An earth-shaking event where all the stars That lit a generation’s sky would be Together, like an astronomical
Stay tuned for our latest issue of New Lyre Magazine
Read Our Magazine
Paid subscribers can access all issues of our New Lyre Magazine at the bottom of this page.
I bought Daniel's book and can give my greatest compliment: I wish I had written it! He has a spiritual side that is all too rare nowadays, even amongst us poets it seems... the man writes with the grace of Heaven.
I know I’ve commented on this poem previously, but I felt compelled to come back and reiterate just how marvelous it is. Here we have the ultimate Easter poem. With that being said, I am very disappointed by the small number of comments this post has generated. It is deserving of many more, in my own personal opinion. I’ve read enough of Daniel Leach’s work to know that he is an exceptional poet, but I think he really outdid himself with this particular piece. Kudos to Mr. Leach for writing such a profoundly exquisite poem, and kudos to David Gosselin for publishing it!