The End Had Magnitude

The End Had Magnitude

J.A. Baker

At four still dark Jon and I depart

for the mountains and right away

hit a rabbit in its mad dash

across the road, obliterate it

with a thump, then our cries of anguish,

then silence that casts us into the dawn.

In the mountains I think of the rabbit

and its meaningful life. Its thundering

green pleasure. Its short gift.

What substance it had

that barreled it forward into the curse

God put on this earth.

The suffering of small things

tints my walk and

the shadow of endings lingers

in every step I take forward in my

mad dash into the dawning praise,

the barreling vitality of the living day.

---

J.A. Baker
Writer

J.A. received her MA in English from UMass Boston and is a recipient of their David A. Kennedy Prize for poetry.

Photography by Jeremy Bishop