The Sacred in the Quotidian
Fall, 2005
Gene Berson
Our Torn Roots Are Alive
The sweet Elysium
laced with geranium
in the dug-up yard
caught me by surprise
all morning
working in the garage
sawing and sanding
an easel for my daughter
eight hundred miles
away. I realized when I stepped
into the backyard,
into the flowers, that she
could smell lilac, hung with swallowtails,
and stringers of honeysuckle slung along a fence
just as I breathed these scents
that got in! I received them and
send them to her
held in the same wind's hand that blows
across these dunes
so when she
opens them simply
by breathing, she'll remember
our ancient