Baptism

Baptism

Nicholas Samaras

In Austria, each day made
precious by its slowness.

Empty fields.
Circles of baled hay to punctuate the horizon.

Late waking to adjust to European hours.
Days to anticipate a child’s baptism,

the gathering of clans over time,
a faith to recognise, a village to actually walk through and see.

A place apart from the speed of America.
Speech made valuable by its rarity.

Old friendships and new life to celebrate.
That afternoon, I saw the baby’s first smile.

Generous days to grow back into.

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Nicholas Samaras
Poet

Nicholas won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for his debut collection Hands of the Saddlemaker (1991). His most-recent collection is American Psalm, World Psalm (2014).

Photography by Daniel J. Schwarz