Saturday Respite

Between intensities
in this week we name holy

in the hell-gap
the in the meantime
measure of things
from a Friday named Good
with no irony intended
to a Sunday that promises
spring and springing
life and living

sits this day – Saturday

somber in the church calendar
I mark it in a different way

for this Saturday is a day
if not of rest, of breath
and breathing –
breathing in the possibility of
tomorrow
breathing out the ashy sorrow of
yesterday

until it is reversed

until reversed again, it is neither
and Saturday stands on its own
with neither its reference point

and that is good

and so it is that the child’s entry
with laughter and running glee
hide-and-seek adventures
that turn an ordinary bush
into a massive jungle to be explored
that brings a woman old enough
to know better along for the ride

and it is good
and very good

Saturday