Thu, 8 October

Let the pen rest, unblessed, its nib dry as a held breath. Let the paper stay white as a vow not yet spoken. Let the first glass hold its small quarrel of hands around a mark not yet named. Let the second glass hold one raised arm, teaching the air to listen. Let six seals stay whole. Let one seal break and spill its silence. Let the last two touch by a red thread and no word pass between them. Let the rain outside keep its own glass, and never come in. Let the sill bear witness, unhurried, unchosen. Amen.