Salvation – a poem by Wally Swist

Salvation


The blind Italian tenor,
Andrea Boceclli, sings the phrase 
“Thine is the Kingdom” 
from The Lord’s Prayer
on the recording while you sleep 
and I stroke your hair, holding one
of your hands across your chest, 
when you awaken and say, 
“I’m glad you’re here; it’s a salvation 
for me.”  I respond, “Thank you 
for saying that.  We have good days, 
we still have more ahead of us,”
and your face shines in semidarkness
then your eyes begin to tear
before I tell you I need to leave for 
the day, you telling me that you don’t 
want to see me go but understand
I have things to attend to,
as the recording progresses
to end in powerful flourishes,
making me think about 
the Thomas Gospel in which it states 
that “the Kingdom of Heaven is 
spread across the Earth but men 
do not see it,” in concert with you
saying “it has always been
deep between us,” that you
understood all that you’ve 
been through, all the suffering 
you’ve had to endure was
made apparent in this moment,
the peace spreading through us.

Wally Swist’s forthcoming books include If You’re the Dreamer, I’m the Dream: Selected Translations from Rilke’s Book of Hours (Finishing Line Press) and Aperture (Kelsay Books), poems regarding caregiving his wife through Alzheimer’s. Recent essays, poems, and translations have or will appear in Amethyst Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Commonweal, Full Bleed, Healing Muse, Illuminations, La Piccioletta Barca, Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, and Your Impossible Voice. His book Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012) was selected by Yusef Komunyakaa for the 2011 Crab Orchard Open Poetry Competition.