Here I Am

Be present –
like the sun
or the evergreen in the Midwest plain

Be present –
like the poet in his poem
or the fish on the hook

Be present –
like the mayfly
or its predator

Be present –
like Christ on Calvary
or the holiness on God

Be present –
like the numbness in the depressed
or the nothing in the void

Be present,
in sorrow or joy,
as a child

What Word

What word, in metaphoric shell -
cast into the fertile scene of a poem -
to hold its place in rooted fashion,
                                        sinking deep
into the groundedness of things -
to bloom out into the poet's hands,
will make the supper table this evening
in longing fulfilled?