every creature has its own wildness
every creature has its own wildness
secret even the sun pales
in the summer’s restless heat of evening
each has its own season
within time’s breathing space
and each season’s reflecting sky
which turns on the axis of silence
each has its own fragile perfection
as every wildness sings its own sweet mystery
within the web of infinity
leaves fall simply
trees grieve gold red yellow
in the letting go
Lou Ella Hickman
Sister Lou Ella is a former teacher and librarian. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and new verse news as well as in four anthologies: The Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon, edited by Philip Kolin and Sue Brannan Walker, Down to the Dark River edited by Philip Kolin, Secrets edited by Sue Brannan Walker and After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020. Her first book of poetry entitled she: robed and wordless was published in 2015. (Press 53.)