then
Alicia Ostriker

after that it snowed
a crispy inch or so
and after this the sky
resumed her rinsed blue scintillance

and after that I remembered the birds
so I filled the feeders with two kinds of seed
and after this a cardinal
a red-capped woodpecker

and some finches
have been flying around
Now you are smirking at me
See how simple it really is

to receive a blessing

from The Volcano Sequence