Purple Irises. Blackbirds. The Lord's Prayer

By Terry Savoie

O you intrepid iris buds crowding
inside the farmyard flowerbed border,
heaven-sent, breaking ground finally

& making our hearts sing a two-note
rendition of red-wing blackbirds
singing while perched on each fifth,

sixth or seventh fencepost running
down along the soon-to-be soybean
field as well as on their way to Mud

Creek, are you waiting for the night’s
dew to fall before day breaks open?
Soon you irises will be dressed in

delicately regal purple, your petals
dripping with that dew, appearing
weightless & singing matins;

we are waiting for your arrival,
your morning pray when you again
will recite for us on earth as it is in heaven.

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Beyond previous appearances in Stoneboat, Terry Savoie’s poems can be found in more than 400 literary journals, anthologies, and small press publications over the past four decades. These include APR, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Commonweal, American Journal of Poetry and The Iowa Review as well as recent numbers of Chiron Review, Tar River Poetry among others.