By: Claudia Ricci
I have come here to raise my eyes.
I have come here to keep them riveted on heaven.
When I feel my eyes, that window, when I feel
my eyes, my heart, my soul closing, I take
a small breath and say a simple prayer
Help me keep my spirits rising, my breath steady,
my heart open to hope and possibility and the beauty
all around me. No matter that icicles drip
lower than the windows.
No matter that the snow is deeper on this November day
than it is in much of January.
This is plain white, the snow the snow
the soft the soft soft soft fluff of cotton.
All is right with the world when we are
wrapped in the cotton warmed by
the love of others around us.
Visualize, use your inner eyes to see flowers
to see puppies and babies and lemon sunrise and
turquoise oceans and cozy fires and warm foamy
baths and tender new grass and purple tulips
and two people kissing under a starry sky.
These tapping keys are keys
to the world of words that
can make you feel sunlight
even though it’s millions of miles away.
Claudia Ricci, Ph.D
Claudia Ricci, Ph.D., was a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and a prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, where one of her projects was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines nationwide.
Ricci spent 15 years teaching English and journalism at the University at Albany and was a visiting professor for one year at Georgetown University.
Her novels include:
- Dreaming Maples, published in 2002, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize
- Seeing Red, January 2011
- Sister Mysteries, July 2018
To order her novels, visit her website at www.http://claudiajricci.com.
Two Drops of Ink posts
Beautiful image and beautiful words.
Thank you for sharing this poem.
“These tapping keys are keys
to the world of words that
can make you feel sunlight
even though it’s millions of miles away. ” I love this section because it is the truth. Beautiful poem. Thank you.