Communion Poem by Steven Federle

Alone, I look through my eyes
and see the world
as it is, as I think
it is, as I want it
to be:

bright mornings,
shimmering lawns, trees glowing
golden as night dissolves
to glaring day.

I hear mourning doves,
raucous crows, roar of lawn-mowers,
distant whisper
of traffic

and believe these proof
that I alone can end the night
of anxious dreams,
with quick breath and
eyes wide open.

But one day, stepping
through terminal veils of pain,
startled, pulling back the black curtain,
in the unexpected rush of ecstasy
I'll discover the truth:

my never-ending
communion with
You.