Still Life

An open window:

Smoke hazy mountain

Deforested, aloof

Beyond the quilted plains;

Ink sketched poplars

Against a reddening sky;

A green flame of ivy

Clinging to the lichened stones;

A lone red rose;

A cowled figure diverts his eyes

Resumes the sacred text,

Sighs with lonely longing,

Flicks over the pages

In the twilight

Century after century ...

~a Carthusian monk