The Book of Ash

By Mari L'Esperance
Near the end of my searching
               I came to a door.
 
Entering, I found the story
               of her life, laid out like a cake
 
on an ebony table, as if waiting there
               for the lost bride—pages flat
 
and placid, blank as a lake
               asleep in winter. Hoping
 
for answers, some knowledge of her,
               perhaps—I’m not sure what—
 
I placed my palm upon the surface.
 
It sank through and disappeared
               beneath a cloud of snowy powder.

 

Copyright Credit: Mari L’Esperance, "The Book of Ash" from The Darkened Temple.  Copyright © 2008 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  Reprinted by permission of University of Nebraska Press.
Source: The Darkened Temple (University of Nebraska Press, 2008)