Philip C. Kolin

I had all the qualifications:
the prerogatives of the firstborn,
the stature of a man of authority, a Goliath,
an aquiline nose, an Octavian head,
...

At the end of time
everything trembles and topples—
the sun dresses in sackcloth,
plagues run amok, vaccines sour;
threadbare bones like oakum unravel...

The first resplendent and holy, flourishing
over waters, trees with fulsome fruit,
witherless leaves,
psaltery furrowing
the land, a covenant of light and mist;
...

What if that brave Emmett
had somehow managed to escape,
my boy who had done all that talking,
a word or maybe two before those
thirsty fists demanding
...

He peoples the darkness with stars:
Eyes in all that vastness.
He stores sunlight in his tabernacle
Meting out each day enough to gladden
...