today is somebody's birthday....

i looked and looked at the date this morning....i knew it was somebody's birthday, but whose? ah! the light dawned...it's sarah's, of course. sarah was born on september 17, 1935, in grand forks, north dakota. we entered the convent on the same day. i left five years later, and she stayed, becoming novice director, finishing her masters program in mythology, studying film-making in chicago and NYC. she died in january and was buried on ground hog's day, 1985. here's a poem i wrote then:

Groundhog’s Day

You cast no shadow
The day you left the ground
Though light poured into light
Inundating trees, houses, our faces
A celebration of all keen air,
Of all awakenings, of all
Bright gladness, of sun.

And I could smell your warm
Scent beside me and feel
Your breath, the animal vapors,
Sweet and intimate and newly of the
Earth. And I could see the
Day’s splendor radiant in
Your soft, fresh eyes.

You cast no shadow.

Mine foretold more dark,
More cold,
More winter still to come until
The green roots
Overcome the snow.