- If These Should Hold Their Peace
In spring wild horses ascendthrough mullein and sedgeto rub noses with the mount
of the worn-away saint and stamphooves at the figure cringingunderneath. Deer come too
and knock antlers on spandrels,remembering the miracle oftheir milk. Swallows swoop
and snuggle in the gapingeyes of saints above the rootwreckedfloor. Winter-weary,
wheat stands watch with cannygrace and branches tug shy wallsto skirts against the chorus of rain.
Loose rocks fall and fling a notetrembling down the aisle wherethe apse strokes its grassy beard
as if recalling a long-lost troparion.Vines tick through generationsof resurrections as bellflowers
rustle in their cowls. Spiders spinvestments for shadows. At evensongthe stones themselves cry out. [End Page 130]
derick mattern holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His poems and translations have appeared in Gulf Coast, Asymptote, The Journal, and Copper Nickel, among other journals.