Surely, the Lord is in this place – a poem by Michelle Stephens

Surely, the Lord is in this place  


Even a dragonfly's wing 

silvery miracle 
quivering on asters

in their moonlit vigil 
silent 

My cares vanish
over birches 

too far from my reach
the anxieties, micro calamities 

of self

Here, only my heart 
which blooms in rhythm 

to an earthen hymn 
thrummed deep

beneath the moss
ardent flush 

of fern

and my hands
open

—Some truths lean 
towards skin 

waiting, like plush
petals

like icy fire 
of wings

or hem 
of fulgent garment,

to be touched

Michelle Stephens is an alumna of Fresno State University, where she majored in English Literature with a minor in Classical Studies. Her poems have been published in HAIS: a literary journal and are forthcoming in Ekstasis and Orchards Poetry Journal. She makes her home in the San Joaquin Valley of California with her husband and their son.