Image in a country church

(Found here)

Horse Lake, Saskatchewan

Sunday, white clapboard unbearably bright.

People shading eyes as they greet

and pass inside to hear the preacher read

the Revelation of John: a lamb standing

as though it had been slain—the paradox

we can hardly speak, the reason

we’ve come and sung, reminded again

how mystery resides in that harsh death,

the rising after, its unnerving glory. It’s here

in this small clearing—that glory, declared

in morning rays through arched windows,

shining the varnished pews;

in brightness flashing out from everything:

white doors, chrome on cars, flecks of mica

in the gravelled yard. Each waxy needle on spruce,

each trembling aspen leaf, each face.

~Joanne Epp