(Click here to follow Pavel's ongoing epic poem “The Shoulder of the Sun.” You may visit Pavel's website at http://www.greyowlpress.com.)
by Pavel Chichikov
The first light is not rising light
Shadowless, breathless, mild –
A shell within a sightless shell
It does not burn or blind
The light inside a cell of night
Death's baptismal sheath,
Radiance for human sight
So it can see God's birth
Summer morning, summer silence
Have we known before?
Our eyes were opened twice
We see Him when they close
The blinded see this borderland
Undreamed frontier
Their sleep is waking up
They see that God is near
