“Cadenza”

Compose yourself in the scene

in first century Judea
a village
a street

Pay attention to the senses

In the bright street there is a colt tied by a door
there is a colt
there is a door

Is this door fashioned of hide stretched over spars
a piece of cloth hitched to hang against the sun
or simply an opening on a darker space?

How does the play of shadow
hint at hidden gardens?
What plaints are the cicadas intoning?

How does the dust taste on this drowsy afternoon
dense with colt
blinking and flicking at flies?

Clare Bryden “Cadenza”, Time of Singing, Volume 53 Number 1, Spring 2026.