Now That I Know – a poem by Gloria Heffernan

Now That I Know

Now is the time to know
That all you do is sacred.
                              Hafiz


I will live today as if I know
that all I do is sacred.

I will shower under clean water that purifies all
it touches, including this body that I too often neglect.

I will pour my coffee and yours as if each mug 
were a chalice brimming with a holy offering.

I will make our bed with cool white sheets 
like clean Irish linens spread across an altar. 

I will fold our clothes like origami cranes 
and arrange them like ceremonial vestments.

Hafiz says he is a divine envoy upon whom 
the Beloved has written a holy message.

I unfold that message like an ancient scroll
and find the only truth I need to know:

If I do everything with love
each task is a sacrament.

Gloria Heffernan’s forthcoming book Fused will be published by Shanti Arts Books in Spring, 2025. Her craft book, Exploring Poetry of Presence (Back Porch Productions) won the 2021 CNY Book Award for Nonfiction. She received the 2022 Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize. Gloria is the author of the collections Peregrinatio: Poems for Antarctica (Kelsay Books), and What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, (New York Quarterly Books). Her work has appeared in over 100 publications including Poetry of Presence (vol. 2).