GOSSAMER

Chritina Chen

We are all mini-molecules

Momentary loops of gossamer1 In the beginning is a beginning And in the end there is an end. The halo around the world Is always there and always disappearing.2 I have seen the sinews of life

The tendons, the veins, the arteries, Drawing paths so seemingly indelible, In truth, merely ephemeral; When I hear a wren sing, positively drenched In enthusiasm, What could I be

If not the witness of a prayer?3

There is a natural order to this world

And its purpose is yours to find –Find reason at the scalpel’s edge, An answer in each half-lit slide, A slice of reality for us to pick apart, To play God.

The bright dawn of morning chases away Night’s specter

Whose clutch is a vice grip of Wintry blankets tangled at feverish feet; And the cool face of the water’s edge Pooled in my palm, Begging for a kiss4 –What is balance, but this?

In this world, you are either a planter Or a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.5

1 From A River Runs Through It by Norman Mclean.

2 From A River Runs Through It by Norman Mclean.

3 Mary Oliver, “I Happened to be Standing.”

4 Langston Hughes, “Suicide’s Note.”

5 William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying.