Sat, 27 December

LITURGY FOR AN EMPTY PLATE Let us give thanks for the crumb. Let us give thanks for the knife-scratch on ceramic, for the ring of coffee no one will see. Let us be still. Let us not clear the table yet. Let us leave the chair pushed back at its angle. Let us read the linen's creases like scripture, like the body was here and chose to rise. Let us name the silence after the meal and before the washing up. Let us call it by its name: not loneliness. Not loneliness. Something older. Something with its own plate, its own seat at the table, its own glass of water going flat in the light. Let us give thanks. Let us give thanks. Let us not say amen but simply stop talking.