In the Catacombs and Lost, 2 poems by Susan Muse

In the Catacombs

Ice hangs from the glass lantern,

its dive caught midstream.

It is patience itself,

suspended in immense

loneliness.

Inside

the fire flickers

like a sunset descending

behind the cedars out back.

Only the crackle in the ashes disturbs the silence

of the house.

And I read
leaning into the words
that are tangled
and brazen
flaring the pending darkness
like unknown corridors
winding their way
into the catacombs.

Black and white photo through an alley — Photo by VanveenJF on *Unsplash*

Lost

I was asleep when
a lone rabbit ran through the night,
his tracks spiraling the snow-burdened yard
like he was lost,
bearing the shoulder of want he felt
out there alone
in the wanton wind.

Susan Muse has published in various literary magazines and anthologies, including Cold Mountain Review, The Miscellany, Pegasus, New Poets Review, Signet, Cairn Press, Images, The Writer’s Eye, and Poetry in Motion. Besides winning the Signet Poetry Award at Queens College, she was selected for Who’s Who in Poetry in American Colleges and Universities and inducted in Sigma Upsilon, an honorary fraternity for writers.