Hiero Glyph

The powers for the word are God, and the scientia [desire] or the magnetic attraction is the beginning of nature. Jacob Böhme

1.
Sunny meadow stays a sight
until bees’ alchemy transforms its essence 
into this honey on my tongue, the necessary grammar
a hierarchy of hexagons fixed to hold
the translation.

when the sweet is drained
the empty frame is melted, poured, and speaks yet
again in light, when burned.  “Once have I
spoken, twice have I heard,” 

2.
Dear—I write to tell
of Desire which pulls 
like a magnet, the closer the want 
the stronger the pull until
no pull but makes
a satisfying
click.

I fold inside my missive
and seal it with 
beeswax, poured 
on the line
of the envelope,
this letter which spells
desire and lack.

Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard, Rita Powell earned an MFA in poetry to explore the future of Christianity by innovative engagement with land, ritual, and the church's legacy of slavery. Massachusetts, South Dakota, and Taizé, France have been her homes.