A Poem by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS

ash wednesday: I have come to light a fire on the earth
luke 12:49

you are dust and to dust you shall return . . .
so why ashes
those sooty remains of palm branch holocausts
rather than dirt from a fertile field
or an empty back lot overrun with plants and weeds
to remind us that evil grows among the good
yet ashes proclaim this day of dust
a beginning
and    a consummation
              marking us with His dark, sacred solidarity

Sister Lou Ella Hickman is a widely published poet and a member of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament of Corpus Christi, Texas. Her poetry collection she: robed and wordless was published in 2015 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection, an imprint of Press 53. Her second collection, Writing the Stars, was published in 2024 by Press 53.

Image: Jonas Gerlach / Unsplash