Rachel Hadas: That Patch of Warmth

Vermont, August 2020

.

August. Midday. Look up: flawless sky

until a cloud sprouts; sidles; suddenly

blots out the sun. Wind troubles the trees;

stops. A hush. A stillness. Ominous?

Not really. It will start again, and soon.

Stopping these alternations can’t be done.

Incessant changes won’t be kept at bay.

Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day?

complained the Bard, who was expecting no

reply. I’ll go in now and check the dough

rising gently in its yellow bowl

on the kitchen table in a pool

of sunlight for which the two cats compete.

That patch of warmth has shifted as I write.

---

From Pandemic Almanac (Ragged Sky, 2022). Copyright Rachel Hadas 2022. Included in Vox Populi with permission.

Rachel Hadas is the author of many books of poetry, prose, and translations. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant in poetry, and an award in literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.