Oh November, somehow the arc of your descent
into some wondrous unfolding was knocked hard
by a last minute blazing orange meteor
that shifted the earth on its axis.
Now, almost four years later,
I find myself a mad sorcerer’s apprentice
bound in servitude to do the bidding of a Midas
who’s never read the myth, or garnered its meaning.
When I had longed to be a handmaiden to what
seemed a natural destiny: The way flowers bloom,
the way rivers flow to the sea, the way we, little by little,
wake up to this moment more fully alive with compassion.
Tapestry unraveled, crimped yarn into chain mail
now inspires a less bucolic tale. Yet there’s still room
for heroes coming together en masse to form an arc
as brilliant as a rainbow shimmering in April rain.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephanie Noble is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee (2014 and 2018). Her poems have been published in many journals and anthologies. She is a longtime student of Prartho Sereno’s Poetic Pilgrimage class at the College of Marin. Stephanie teaches insight meditation in San Rafael, California and online at stephanienoble.com. She is a board member of the Buddhist Insight Network. She and her husband, the artist Will Noble, have four children and five grandchildren.