How do I convey the shoring gold
at the core of the Florentine bells'
commingled chimes?

Vast as a suddenly revealed
field of wheat,
that up-and-away gold
is equivalent to the match-burst
morning I returned,
intent as doubting Thomas,
to my old classroom terrace,
open to the showy, blue yes
of the bustling Arno,
to my timeless, sun-laved
Basilica of Santo Spirito,
and discovered
ebullient citizens reciting,
at a hundred different posts,
the same unbetraying passage
of Dante's Paradise.


About this poem
"This poem is a short, joyous celebration of my return to my Italian language school in Florence after 21 years, only to discover an amazing, in-progress celebration of Dante. There was definitely an air of hometown pride and 'local boy makes good' that made this group recitation (with some folks in the flowing red robes of the revered poet) both a magical and a moving occasion."
-Cyrus Cassells

About Cyrus Cassells
Cyrus Cassells is the author of "The Crossed-Out Swastika" (Copper Canyon Press, 2012). He teaches at Texas State University and lives in Austin, Texas.

***
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2014 Cyrus Cassells. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate