A reflection in Lent
Lilacs scent the early evening
As a clock chimes a quarter past the hour.
Chickadees still chirp in the shadowy shrubs
Tasting the day’s last seeds
Before their feathers carry them
Into their pine beds.
Through the tree threshold
Now I hear the doves,
Calling as they have called us all since
Childhood in that candy sweet cadence,
Asking so little—
Asking only for that moment
When the Spirit knocks
At the heart.
Rose Anna Higashi is a retired professor of English Literature, Japanese Literature, Poetry and Creative Writing. In addition, she is a retired Lay Ecclesial Minister from the Diocese of San Jose. She writes a monthly blog, Tea and Travels, which appears on her website, www.myteaplanner.com, where many of her lyric poems and haiku are published. Her poetry journal, Blue Wings, published by Paulist Press, is also available on her website. Her poems have appeared in The Catholic Poetry Room, Poets Online, The Ekphrastic Review, Americamedia.com, The Avocet and other publications. The editors of Poets Online nominated her for the 2025 Pushcart Prize. Rose Anna lives in Honolulu with her husband of sixty-two years, Wayne Higashi.