A SPECIAL DAY

Imagine a city under siege:
it may be any such city
at any time
as long as old women
dressed in black
scuttle amid rubble.

Think how the miracle of relief might come:
soldiers advancing in a column;
raids from the air;
even pretended discovery
0f the fake relic of a saint.

Do they all see
how a slanting band of sunlight
pours from between two masses of slate dark cloud
to illuminate a distant tree up on the hill?

Any tree will do,
but shining out in that special way.


Peter Keeble