How could they know,
how could anyone know
you were not formed by origins,
a family colder than a well
of fears? No ordinary rule applies
because you’ve died already,
died and died,
as fresh annointings—salt, baptismal rain—
become the ritual made new
by moving on and moving through.
David Mason’s books include Sea Salt: Poems of a Decade, 2004-2014 (Red Hen, 2014) and Davey McGravy: Tales to Be Read Aloud to Children and Adult Children (Paul Dry, 2015). As a librettist, Mason collaborated with Lori Laitman on her opera The Scarlet Letter, which will premiere at Opera Colorado in 2016. Poet Laureate of Colorado from 2010 to 2014, he teaches at Colorado College.
