Poems
By Sam Matteson
Physics
University of North Texas

Joseph, One Day Too Soon
(4/17/2003)

Deep within the Pharaoh’s dungeon, Joseph
Stares into the darkness, blank, alone while
Pharaoh sleeps and dreams of seven fat and
Seven lean, prophetic cannibal cows,
Glyphs unknown to Amon’s shaven seers.
Dead is Joseph’s own dream: bowing grain heads.
Brothers stole it, thrown with him down the well.
Still he trusts a God he knew by name once;
God of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and me.
Faith yet springs from longed-for providences
Pushing dreamers into action, hoping,
Hoping all will turn out well, but never
Knowing what, for sure, the next dawn brings on.
Like disciples hiding Saturday, one
Day too soon to celebrate an Easter.
How can we be sure when our tomorrows
All lie hidden there beyond a midnight?
My small pains, their prison bars, their cells shrink
Beside the Semite’s woes, but still the same
Faith calls out to me to be a hero,
Be a man and persevere in strong hope,
Like God’s man in chains or calumny bound,
One night before salvation breaks him out.

Cottonwood Pass
(9/21/2003)

The wind whispers a rumor of winter
Making the aspen shiver at the thought of snow,
While the hurried creek chuckles to us
As it stumbles down a drunken track
Through the broken talus slope.
Then breathlessly we, flatlanders, gasp
At a sudden shock of yellow spilt
Among the blue of spruce and ever-green.
Our eyes, round like our lips, speak
The unselfconscious exclamation we feel.
And the sun smiles on, through bangles of leaves
That dance with white arms in the air.
Such a day of beauty found out
Over the divide in canyon and rills!
That God would lavish such extravagance
For only mule deer and red tail hawk to share
Puzzles me, humbles me.
This is not contingent beauty;
This is not approximate grace.
It would shine, as it has, without my gaze.
How fortunate I am to see with open eyes
And carry away in memory
The pure light and air, the sound and scent
Of forest untouched!
In the plains I shall dream again
Of the golden wonder of animated joy
Exploding from the applause of leaves
In the high pass most hidden
From all but God’s gaze.

Copyright 2004 Sam Matteson. Used by permission.

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