Sabbath Keeping
by Craig E. Tenke

It was the evening after the heat wave,
       in the summer following the attack.

A confusing day
  after a hectic deadline;
A bittersweet day,
  a lonely day,
for no apparent reason.


The little raft crept
   across the still glass,
it's bow poking through the reeds
    on the cloistered edges
            of the marsh.


Distant voices and
  distinctive birds
  sang their chatters
       and chirping scales
through the spaces
            between dragonflies
    and fish-splashes.


The treeline,
             a twilit silhouette
    was astonishingly ordinary.
June bugs were joined
       by ratcheting Katydids,
as the night concert became electric.

The moon shone full.
Startled ducks resumed their flight
               as the stars appeared.

The reeds,
    quickened by an unseen breeze,
          beckoned.


I watched
          and listened.
   I observed
          what I knew.

This is the day which the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.