Vigil
Winter stands in the corner of my garden,
Rounds her shoulders, tucks her chin, draws tight her cloak of stars and ice,
Razor moon and rain. Spare and erect, gaunt in the darkness,
Bark-peeling with moss predation, slick and black she nods,
She waits, she leans,
The sky shows her jewelry, vents its wet moods. Death litters
The paths with bones and brown rags. Secret life skulks then like a thief:
She finds mushrooms between her toes, grows green and furry slippers.
Long, long.
Until one day the clearwashed air grows sweet and yellow
With acacia, and her memory stirs with the taste
Of a near-forgotten lover’s scent, feels again the warmth of his regard,
And she stretches,
Stretches to find him again,
Turning up her daffodil face.
—Mark Green
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About Mark Green
Author of ATHEOPAGANISM: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science, Mark Green is the initiator of the Atheopagan path and editor at the Atheopaganism blog. With co-host Yucca, he records the weekly podcast The Wonder: Science-Based Paganism, makes YouTube videos, and creates materials and resources for practicing Atheopagans. He volunteers as a staffer to the Atheopagan Council to support the growth of Atheopaganism throughout the world. In his home of Sonoma County, California, in the occupied ancestral lands of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok peoples, he is best known as an activist and founder of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the largest environmental activism group by membership on the North Coast of California.
