The miracle is
that the leaves
outside my
window
eat sunlight
just as I craved
eating the
illuminated page
with gold leaf
behind a saint
I did not
recognize
whose face was
bright like the
sun
and I thought
if I were a leaf
I could eat
her brightness
because I knew
one thing:
I was as hungry
as a tree
full of leaves,
waiting to be lit
from the inside.
(“Illumination” is from Christopher Snook’s book of poems, Tantramar Vespers. It is the only possible letter that FYP could send you on this most unprecedented FYP Essay Sunday. –ed)