An Important Occasion

I.
When the bride’s youngest uncle
showed us the picture he took
of that dark-headed spike
walking calmly
among the thin pines on the rim,
I sensed that the skies
would soon clear.

He was already in the hall.

II.
An hour before it began,
the old field along Brewer’s Creek,
the one below the graveyard
south of the chapel,
was filled with bright finches…

The brighter their plumage,
the sweeter their songs.
The sweeter their songs,
the thinner the clouds.
The thinner the clouds,
the swifter the winds
to blow them all away.

III.
The waning moon had not yet risen.
The sleeping birds (and departing revelers)
were bathed in the gentle light
of a billion stars.