ENVELOPED

      Bright sun is heating the earth.
      The warmth soaks into my back
      as I reach down into a deep basket
      of wet vestments,
      which will cover the backs of the ones I love.

      I reach down and reach up, pinning
      each spanned against the great blue sky,
      banners of color: red, fuschia, gold, white.
      I raise these flags high
      `til the sun which heats the earth
      coaxs the moisture from them
      back into the air,
      into the air which surrounds us all.

      Everywhere,
      we are enveloped in radiance.

6-18-98