Beginning to End Ghazal
Beginning to End Ghazal
by Cathy Hollister | Hermitage, TN
The infant day admits new time
to leave behind the fray of time
Needy and Greedy crowd my mind
Demanding, taking all the time
as hours of striving loom ahead
will strength and trust prevail this time
a small dead seed entombed in soil
is faith embodied at planting time
as step by step, I pass a field
plowed at proper phase of time
then rest at cool of brook or tree
to breathe the bloom of summertime
to see and hear with deep intent
does so much more than pass the time
when merciful night conquers light
has the long walk just wasted time
or have the hard miles underfoot
fixed my fallen soul just in time
lost, kept, borrowed, or saved
pitiful attempts to dominate time
evaporate like evening mist
at journey’s end in wintertime
when days of love and hope harvest
my grace-filled end season of time
Editor’s note: Find a review of Hollister’s Seasoned Women: A Collection of Poems in the Autumn 2023 (page 16) La Concha (the poem above is not part of that collection). Her poem “Step Out,” which is part of that collection, was published in the March 2021 La Concha (page 35). “Stepping Stones in the Stream” and “Busco/I Search”, which are not part of that collection, were published in the June 2021 (page 32) and Summer 2022 (page 30) issues of La Concha, respectively.
