Like the First Day
  for Ksenia Pokrovsky 

  out of earth’s clay  
  our Creator kneaded us  
  into His image and likeness,  
  visible mirror of the Invisible,  
  light of Uncreated Light,  
  bodies of the Bodiless  
     
  from the land of Rus’  
  you came to us  
  with clay and burnt umber,  
  with ground pigments,  
  ochers, oxides and egg,  
  out of earth’s clay  
  lapis lazuli and prayer,  
  out of earth’s clay  
  fasting and the saints’ inner light,  
  you drew out  
  other images and likenesses,  
  sensory organs sanctified  
  no longer biological,  
  a mother of creation  
  you opened windows to a world  
  heavenly with angels and saints,  
  with the Incarnate Word and His Mother,  
  you taught us to not only look  
  but to see,  
  to see with inner eyes  
  beyond the veil  
  a glory no blemished man  
  is granted to espy  
   
  now you have slipped through our clay  
  and earthliness,  
  again showing us a way  
  we had forgotten,  
  and in your world of icons  
  —beyond appearances—  
  we will glimpse the sunrises  
  that now illumine  
  and transfigure your heart,  
  O imitator of the First Day  
  July 7, 2013 
  Bishop Paul Dupuis