The Beckoning by Michael Keshigian

Upon a summer’s eve when the lawn 

was not yet drenched with dew

and still radiant from the day’s warmth,

when the tips of white pines

rose skyward like long fingers

to tickle the underside of stars

as the evening air vibrated to a cricket ostinato,

he laid atop the grass,

arms and legs extended,

and marveled at the infinite distance

above him with its clustered collection

of variously illuminated rocks and stones,

wondering what will become of him

once his time in this dimension ended,

where he might find himself,

what form he might take, and in fact, 

would he be aware to bear witness.

His thoughts transcended

and for an instant he became one

with the mass about him and believed he heard 

his name whispered in the harmony about,

a single concordant breath, faint and distant, 

like a dried autumn leaf

brushed by a wandering snowflake

as though it belonged, 

not to him or his parents 

who bestowed it upon him, 

nor to this place on earth,

but to the vast emptiness and unanswered question

from which we all appeared.

Michael Keshigian’s thirteenth poetry collection, The Garden Of Summer was released April, 2019 by Flutter Press. He has been widely published in numerous national and international journals, recently including Red River Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Oyez Review, Bluepepper, Muddy River Review, Smoky Quartz and has appeared as feature writer in over twenty publications with 6 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations. (michaelkeshigian.com)