On Monday After Easter

by Ryan Keating

The orange blossoms eastering outside

Sometimes overwhelm my soul’s perfume

And the hope of fruit in tiny blossoms

Barely present in my everyday garden.

Yet, make my life a morning stretched-wide

Enough to shelter those I love in brightness

And bring to bloom and ripeness even

Strangers’ branches warm in your light

That radiates by reflection from a source

Deeper and more still than these waters

Rippling the image of a citrus sunrise

Through trees still reaching for the horizon

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Ryan Keating is a pastor and writer on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. His work can be found in publications such as Ekstasis Magazine, Fare Forward, Roi Fainéant, and Funicular. He is pursuing a PhD in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge. His chapbook, A Dance In Medias Res, is now available from Wipf and Stock.