Charlene James-Duguid’s most recent poem to appear here was “Dreams Entwined” (November 2018). 

A Crystal Morning
By Charlene James-Duguid

It should have been an ordinary sunrise,
In a common year,
At a place like any other.
With everyday coffee in our cups
We looked out of warm windows
Stunned
In disbelief.

Never before and never to be again
The forest bears crystal fruits.
Sparkling droplets,
Hanging silently from slender branches,
Ready to dance if we ask.
Morsels of frozen magic,
Spectral in greens and reds,
Eagerly wishing for a permanent home.

Allowed to be,
At only a certain degree,
They try calling up
Powers rarely used,
To fill the landscape
With fragile beauty
And permission to stay.

So strong a thing to see
Becomes so hard a word
To sing.
None quite right
This perfection is so singular.

Its charm will stay on,
If named.
Existence would be assured.
Find the word, give it a baptism,
Be in its grandness.
Wonder in its mystery
Rest with icy diamonds
In the magic forest
Together, forever.