Novice

When I was new again,

a novice,

I stumble,
girlishly chatty,
into myself.

It was impossible to argue
as I crumbled
into a heap
of exhaustion--

all that new light
still with uncertainty.

And yet, I quarreled stubbornly
as it is with the uninitiated,
with the mind
and all the oddities
of precarious squinting
at the rustic self.

I don't quarrel any more.

It is a practice to sit quiet
and notice dragonflies
circling the thoughts
of God

and the color
green that arrives
in early spring.