The Four Evils to be Overcome
According to Saint John of the Cross:
Joy, Hope, Fear, Grief
The springtime brings her yellow joy on top
Of green stems flaring. Then come pink and white
Along the happy trees. We will not stop,
They promise, even in the chilly night.
The summer swells with hopeful fields and fruit
Like pregnancy beneath paternal hills
Of perpetrating sunshine in pursuit
Of fall so widely swollen that it spills.
The autumn comes with frosts that pigs must fear
On mornings. Fields have quite forgotten they
Will feel the hacking blade. The browsing deer
Meet hunters’ slaughter, full thanksgiving’s prey.
December comes. The oak limb lacks its leaf.
The sunset settles down in long night grief.