In Sky’s Chapel – a poem by Nancy Jentsch

In Sky’s Chapel

There is a starkness in this February
sunset, evening prismed rosy orange—
a fiery mirage. The trees, leafless blades,
slice the entering night, looking for all
the world like candles in sky’s chapel
wanting to be lit—their sap a wick, patient 
for warmth this showy dusk merely foretells.
Only when winter’s final sigh rounds
to spring’s bursting O will sap, warmed
from dormered sleep, light buds in virid
greens. Tonight I raise both arms and ask
how many springs are left to spill 
from these my sunset’s outstretched hands.

Since beginning to write in 2008, Nancy Jentsch‘s work has appeared in journals such as Still: The Journal and Braided Way. In 2020, she received an Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the resulting collection, Between the Rows, debuted in 2022 (Shanti Arts). Her current writing project involves reinvestigating genealogical information she unearthed in the pre-computer 1980s. She has retired after 37 years of teaching and finds a bounty of inspiration in her family and her rural home.