Huddled in dejected darkness,
They felt it first in the palms of their hands,
A warmth that surged up their arms
And lurched to the intersection
Of spine and skull.
More than a tingling, it turned
Their heads upward. And there, the eleven
Who were left, in unison saw the flames,
Redder than any fire they had viewed before:
Huge hot fingers, flapping wings
Fanning the heat through the upper room.
Then they saw her—
The sacred white bird, luminous
Feathers haloed in flames.
She called to them, not the cooing
Of an ordinary dove at sunup.
No, she spoke to the voices within them,
And they found their tongues.
They worded the wonder hidden until now,
Witnessed in every language,
Articulated what no forlorn fisherman,
No heart-broken mother
Had ever uttered before.
Their words flew over the universe,
And echo forever through the Earth.
Rose Anna Higashi lives in Honolulu with her husband Wayne. She is retired from her consecutive careers as an English Professor and a Lay Ecclesial Minister in the Diocese of San Jose. Her third volume of poetry, Searching in Circles, will be published shortly by Kelsay Books. Many of her poems, essays and literary reviews have appeared in print or websites such as America Media.org, The Catholic Poetry Room, Verse-Virtual and Poets Online.org, whose editors nominated her for the Pushcart Prize