Olive Branch
I would have reached
through the hatch in the ark
for the bird to take him
in with me, so tired
from his fruitless flight
I would have held
him in the hold of that dark
coupling place a little
longer, so tired
of the anxious nights
adrift. I would have kissed
his head as he departed
once again in search
of a sign, so hopeful
was I. He escaped sight.
I would have grasped
the tender peace from his sharp
beak, cried to the animals
We are saved, so sure
my dove would steer us right
home. I wouldn’t have
had a clue how to chart
my own course to dry land
and build again, completely new,
but he flew, and I had to, and it’s alright.
Gina Pribaz, MFA, lives and writes in Rome, Italy, where she studies theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and serves as editor for the student magazine, La Parola. She is the founder of the With All Your Heart Catholic Writing Workshop. Her poetry has appeared in Presence and is forthcoming at the Catholic Poetry Room, and her published essays have won awards (National AWP award, Best of the Net, Pushcart nomination).
Amethyst Review 