Last night I did divination

        Last night I did divination on the flat plane of a parking lot.
         I was able to see the fate of worlds and the destinies of men
                  In the streaks of oil and spilled anti-freeze
                            I marked as significant
                              the precise placement
                               of cigarette butts
                              and mangled soda cans
                        I heard the cry of the Kalahari
                                  at three a.m.
                   standing alone on a black concrete desert.
              Borders seemed menacing, and the air was sweltering
                            and the Gates of the Ages
                                   had opened
                  and were gazing forth into this very moment.
                    The air was so still and quiet and sticky
                        I paced about in a cotton shift
                              for none were about
                   to see me bathing in those lonely moments

      Afterward I tried to rest reclining amidst scores of dying candles
                               wax dripping madly
                                    like sap
                                  into my table
                                into the earth.

                      Morning Glory has left my mind now.
                        She has not yet returned my body
                        There was no cool to the morning

                                      Now I
                                  discomfited
                            await the steamy slowness
                                  of late May
                                   in Georgia
                              the mother's land.

                                -- Sarah Thomas

Sarah is a mystical nun who lives in Georgia. She just received her Master of
Divinity from an Episcopalian college, and now teaches at a school for troubled
girls and boys. Copyright (c) 1995 belongs to the author.


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