What The Monk Said Stop going hungry and plant the quiet of midnight It will root in soft ground and spread like melted wax into darkness Listen for the call of the animals whose home this is - the owl the bat the night flying moth They are leaves on the growing stem (The scent of jasmine will smother your garden walls Let it crumble them) Watch for the moonflower Its pale petals open only for the stars that drip milk onto the earth like water and you will know when it has drunk its fill The night will be full of a language no one has words for not even you Look up The sky is your mirror now See which of your faces looks back and welcome it This is your first fruit
Elodie Barnes is a writer and editor. Her work has been recently published / is forthcoming in Gone Lawn, Lunate, Wild Roof Journal, and Past Ten, and she is Books & Creative Writing Editor at Lucy Writers Platform. When not travelling, she lives on the edge of a wood in northern England and complains incessantly about the weather.
Amethyst Review 