Rick Campbell: Elegy in a Small Town Churchyard

There are many born again or dreaming

of it, another lot wishing

their frailty would end. What

if I were smitten today

under this dogwood tree, moss

dangling in my car window.

You think I mean death? What of love,

of revelation? The church is quiet.

A lawn mower breaks the Sabbath

but all the birds are singing holy. We could

make too much of this or, more likely, find

it just the end of another day. Lord,

you might say, then again, maybe not.

From Gunshot, Peacock, Dog by Rick Campbell (Madville Publishing, 2018). 

Included in Vox Populi by permission of the publisher.

.

Rick Campbell’s many books include Dixmont (Autumn House Press, 2008) and Gunshot, Peacock, Dog (Madville, 2018). He lives in Florida.