Along Night Rivers

Photo by Gabrielle Johnson by Chasing Horizons Photography

A Poem by Brandon Shane

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else. - C.S Lewis.

Take the smallest candle,

it is bright in the dark.

The pews of an abandoned

church are never empty.

I had a dream after burying

my father and he said to me,

God is the firefly that slow

dances with you at midnight,

God is the olive tree hanging

off a cliff when you tumble,

God is the harp that strums

when they have eradicated music.

The sonorous chord vibrates spirits

while pessimists swim mouthless rivers,

as a mangy dog leads a child home,

divinity is felt romping through

mud betwixt caroling blackbirds,

God plays instruments

within each rain droplet

washing us in psalms.

I twist a flickering lightbulb

caged by the damp cell of doubt,

and rise in a duet of white 

doves painting the sky.

Brandon Shane is a poet and horticulturist, born in Yokosuka, Japan. You can see his work in Rattle, trampset, Variant Lit, The Chiron Review, The Stone Circle Review, IceFloe Press, Table for Deuce, Vessels of Light Journal, among others. He graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in English, where he is currently getting his MFA in Poetry.