a word about ritual

Ritual doesn’t have to be formal or oft-repeated, a high liturgy. Sometimes a simple gesture—such as placing a token mindfully and taking a quiet moment of acknowledgment—can honor an experience or, in this case, a life.

For Every Sparrow

A dead goldfinch lay
beside the door when I went

out for a walk, so I fetched
a glove and carried her

gently beyond the
sasanquas, plucking one

luminous white bloom,
tinged in pink and smelling

of sweet wet earth, to
place on her tiny body

after tucking her
into the shrubbery

where brilliant yellow
will blossom next spring.