“Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.” ~ Naomi Shihab Nye
O orange swirling flame of days, so little is a stone—
But I know this: the little stone survives the flame of days,
keeps whole its chiseled heart. Don’t weep from sorrow anymore—
The days are longer, and the evenings grow more beautiful.
O orange swirling flame of days, so little is a stone
that it might arc across the filmy water better than
a bridge. Don’t ask about the draught that you were made to drink:
new wine or bitter herbs, return them now to earth and slake
your thirst instead on what is clear. That light, that love. Be still,
o orange swirling flame of days. So little is a stone.
~ for Jennifer Patricia A. Cariño