Peacock

In the midday, under a clear sky,

as if from the burning

eye of the sun, the peacock

steps into the road, dips

his upright plumes this way and that,

flickers his peacock blue.

His shimmering brings the roofer

down from the half-finished

roof, my heavens, a peacock!

Stunned out of our lives

by an iridescent blow, we follow

it, an illuminated sign

from the book of wonders,

into a field

of gnarled fruit trees.

When he turns, opens the fan

of his tail under the pocked,

wizened apples,

the eyes of the universe gaze back.

What tethers us to the earth

almost snaps.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Publishing Society