Cling to your miracle, treasure it. Look! That rose
sprung from the cracked pavement—suddenly there
like a sudden unhoped-for hope—it flowered to heal
those wounded, cracked passageways of your heart.
It is yours alone, that causeless blaze of red,
that blossom with no excuse.
Hold fast! Though the crowds
explain it down to the mud, cling to your miracle,
fill your eyes! It is all we have of the light,
that light waiting to bloom in the waiting dust.
Paul Panish’s poetry has been published in literary journals, including Signal, Bluestone, The Formalist, and, War, Literature, and the Arts Journal. His translation of Euripides’ Medea was performed at Columbia University. He wrote the opera libretto “Marry Up, Marry Down,” performed in San Francisco (Opera Theatre Unlimited).
