Poetry of Ellen Reiss
Abundantly Becoming
In the first moment of the first hour of life there is
The movement of wind in fragrant grasses.
Possibilities of rain stir
The beginnings of broken watches unevenly ticking,
The old cats’ howl, and
The long sound of an ancient lute.
He is so many essences.
Chrysanthemums will one day grow near him, and his smile
Will be a chrysanthemum, and his eyes will hold birch forests in a great snow,
Grey, and white, and white.
He is
Abundantly becoming.
© by Ellen Reiss
“Abundantly Becoming” is about the birth of a child—the child who is each of us. It says that what we are is inseparable from the whole world with its ever so many things, and as we’re affected by them we become ourselves. —Ellen Reiss