Seasons Settle In

Seasons Settle In

Sarah Collister

Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te laudibus prosequimur,
qui corpus cibo reficis,
coelesti mentem gratia.

There is something crisp in the month of May,
like starched cotters catching as voices cut
across the morning haze to silent crowds,
rapt with anticipation they will lose
before the hour’s up. Laced in leaves and booze,
crowds traverse untrafficked streets for the day,
picking out pleasures before they’ve bloomed.
“Pray for us sinners now,” (and later too)…
Only the past makes the future so strange.

September settles in sotto voce;
stiff leaves shake free in the lightest breeze.
The passing and past meet on the road,
tip hats, and continue on their own ways.
On Ship street, the Unicorn vintage shop
gathers up all the May ball dress bouquets,
pressing them up against the glass display,
mixing with men’s shoes and ribboned straw hats,
‘til all their virgin colours start to fade.

Hymnus Eucharisticus above, translated:

We worship you, O God the Father,
we offer you our praise,
for you nourish our bodies,
and minds with heavenly grace.

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Sarah Collister
Poet & Teacher

Sarah is a graduate of New York University and Master’s student at New Saint Andrews College. Sarah teaches English literature at Emmanuel Christian School and lives in Oxford, with her beloved husband, Clinton.

Photography by Andrei R. Popescu