Retrospective
Afra
A child with brown hair. Prayer and amen
Darken silently the coolness of evening
And Afra's smile, red in yellow frame
Of sunflowers, fear and gray sultriness.
Wrapped in blue coat, the monk saw her
In former times devoutly painted in church windows;
Should still be friendly escort through pain
When her stars haunt his blood.
Autumn decline; and the elder-trees' silence.
The water's blue moving stirs the forehead,
A hairy cloth is laid upon a bier.
Rotten fruits fall from the branches;
Unspeakable is the flight of birds, encounter
With the dying; after this dark years follow.
© Jim Doss & Werner Schmitt
