Spare Room

by Karsten Piper
  
Rest here now
in this quiet room.

Gather your weary legs
under you, and settle down
on the woven pile,
among the arabesque.

The white plaster walls
riffle clean enough
to comfort, washed
in the shadows

of amethyst, of loess, 
of the deep Mediterranean rug.
A lily, a lion’s mane, a rose
couch in the central floret,

wool and silk reflecting
all the dome of heaven.
Blue tendrils reach across
warm beige and ivory—

crowns for heaven, cloths
to wipe away the tears,
the whole green earth, a feast
of spotless cups and silver,

mercy-breezes, pure
polished glass, a peaceful
father’s lap, the prophets’
diaries of gladness.

All this surrounds you;
rest and wait.


© 2007 by Karsten Piper. All rights reserved.

Karsten Piper recently returned to teaching at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington, MN, after a sabbatical year writing poetry at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.