Come to Life
Corn Stooks, an oil painting by Nikolai Astrup, 1920 (Norway)
The oldest of fourteen,
I was asthmatic, often sick in bed
in our house beside the church. My father,
the pastor, forbid our joining the revelry outdoors
on Summer Solstice night. I longed to sing
and dance with the others, celebrating
the sun and the greening earth.
Summer made my health
a good bit better, and I liked to walk
and sketch after prayers and chores were done.
I’d watch the farmers pick and bundle cornstalks
into towers about as tall as me. The stooks,
left to cure and dry, looked almost
human to my young eyes.
Today, as they bend
in the chilly wind, I paint them
troll-like, plodding across a field under
a darkening sky. Do you smile or do you shiver?
And do you wonder if there’s a soul or spirit
in every earthly form? In the rustling
of stooks, I can hear it.
Barbara Lydecker Crane has won the Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Crown Contest, the Helen Schaible Sonnet Contest, and has twice been a Finalist for the Rattle Poetry Prize, among other honors and awards. She has published five collections, including You Will Remember Me (Able Muse) and Art & Soul (Kelsay Books). She lives with her husband near Boston.
Amethyst Review 