To Anna via Cyrus Cassells

.

“To Anna,
With admiration
for your beautiful
singing.
Blessings to you
always.”

Cyrus 9/17/99

I do not know, Anna,
why you let go of
“Soul
Make ^ A
Path
Through
Shouting”*
nor do I remember how
your copy came to me
or what you lost or gained
in between

having marked four passages
before I pass to a friend
there’s a pressing
to remind you
and thank Cyrus Cassells
for them:

“To sit in judgment
Is to sit in hell -”

“God-in-the-guise-of-the-stranger,
God-in-the-guise-of-this-flesh -”

“Here are flowers of deep suffering,
Swaying in the heart of God -”

“O grant us strength to fashion a table
Where each of us has a name -”

* published by Copper Canyon Press