Thanksgiving Sestina

Thanksgiving Sestina

(For Nadia)

At the center of this house, I have lit a candle

to call back into my heart, my life, the spirit

that enters my flesh with the sound of a drum,

the thin membrane in my chest, that began the dance

we celebrate in the harvest we’ve kneaded into bread,

that we receive, bless, break, and serve with wine.

For no feast is complete without first serving wine

that sets our flesh aglow, our bodies like bright candles,

quickening our cells like yeast that makes bread

rise from a soft mound and expand, the way our spirits

move outward to embrace lovers, and we dance

to the rhythm in our wrists, calves—echo of the drum

beat that shortens our lives—noise of the drum

born from bleats that tore the morning air before wine

spilled hot on the ground, and later that night we danced,

ate, cured the hide around the fires where our candles

first sparked, joining the round that draws spirit

to water, to the fragrance in the mystery of bread—

music of crushed seeds, folded into loaves of bread

held between the palms like the toom of the drum

in the trembling altar of my shoulders, signal of the spirit

coiling up the snake of my spine, like fermenting wine

exploding inside my head, a thousand candles

ablaze behind my eyes and I rise and dance.

For how can I resist the pull of this dance?

Unseen yet felt, like the miracle of bread

made real in our hands and mouths, the way candles

awaken our bodies to the fire in the skins of drums,

in the pulp of grapes we squeeze into wine

surrendering their essence like the spirit

anointing our bones and hearts (for spirit

sanctifies clenched fists and open hands) in the dance

of the earth, fire, air, and water, fluid as the wine

poured into our lives, leavening hurts and loves like bread

made in the heat of the fire, cooled by drums,

the song of our souls, like the breath of candles.

So I will cup my body around this candle and dance.

Give thanks to the spirit with music, bread,

and wine, fruits of the earth, made one with the drum.

Except from Dub Wise