liturgy-today's poem de jour

the old sycamore in the front yard

sways like a mad mystic

worships at the altar of jazz

prays that its roots might take flight

breaks off its branches in blissful abandonment

transfigures itself into a tree of pain

cries out for the crucifixion of the cedars of lebanon

aches for the embrace of ecstatic archangels

dreams of descending into dante’s inferno

feverishly grasps for the faintest flickers of freedom

as lightning leaps upon it in a liturgy of liberation

image: Tall the king of the wood stood, towering over all, at pinterest.com