A Place And A Name

A Place And A Name  /  Joshua Alan Sturgill

We are all hoping a hand of light
          will reach out from the dark

We are all waiting for life
          to remove its sable gloves 
          and set aside its coat of materiality

We want to see the unexplainable,
          and hear untraceable laughter

We want the universe to confide in us
          and in its confidence know
          we are known, and being known
          know we are wanted

We want to find work to do
          both joyful and difficult.
(Joy-in-adverse-complexity: is this 
          a possible definition of meaning?)

We all want to feel the fire
          leap from a Winter morning,
          wildflowers waiting within the soil

All the multimillion-voiced vocabulary
          of all language 
          is still less than what we have to say
             — an infinte palace in an eternal garden 
          from a gourdful of water
          and a handful of sand; a symphony
          from the sound of approaching war

Who begins by grieving?
Who watches the sky?
Who is willing to embrace his shame?
We are all longing 
          to give ourselves away (but few
          can truthfully tell us how)

We all want to know every spark on the sea
              — however brief — 
          since time opened its eye
          has a place and a name 
          in God’s memory

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All poetry and supplementary material: copyright 2025 by Joshua Alan Sturgill. All rights reserved.