Ordinary Magic

     Denise McSheehy      

A window in a dim room

a semi basement facing north

so the light coming in

is cherished. Outside

the hollow below the street’s

painted white; plants

with the thick

shiny leaves of endurance.

You look

into a white square

filled with green

then back –   

see reflected pallor

tentative

just breaching the room

how light seeks surface  

a mirror, glass goblets

the waxy sheen of the  lilies.

I stand before it

as with any work of art –

©2009 Denise McSheehy.  Reproduced with permission of the author.