![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1230b6404839429b9436333b68e1561f.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_98,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/1230b6404839429b9436333b68e1561f.jpg)
The following poem was first published in Issue 13 (2005) of Ancient Paths literary magazine.
Grass Beside the Church of St. Francis Xavier (Night — Before a Late Summer Storm) by Arthur Powers (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
This, too, must resist
passing storm, bleak night, summer grass beneath a battlement, kissed
by winds that twist small roots aright. This, too, must sheath tiny blades beside
a pale stone buttress rising, wide and white, disappearing—tried stone into black mist— lost up in holiness. This, too, must fight.