Listen

Listen

Ronnie Sirmans

I heard the trees whispering in the wind,
leaf to limb to root to root to limb to leaf.

Then a large stone suddenly spoke to me,
but I didn’t know how to respond in rock.

The sun’s rays chattered warmly with me,
harmless gossip about what motes revealed.

I tried to combine them into a higher voice,
wishing to be a partaker of the divine nature.

But I cannot translate faith until wild berries
giggle, pretending they bleed onto my palms.

---

Ronnie Sirmans
Poet & Editor

Ronnie Sirmans is an Atlanta modern media company's digital platforms editor whose poetry has appeared in Sojourners, Fathom, America: The Jesuit Review, The Windhover, Heart of Flesh, Jewish Currents, and The Behemoth, in addition to non-faith-based magazines. 

Photography by Jason Hudson