Garnet, for Evelyn

At Effie's request, here's the text to the poem that was entered in the fair. Those of you who are George Herbert fans may recognize the structure of this poem, being more or less identical to his poem "Prayer". If I had it to do all over again, there are two things that garnets most strongly resemble that I'd work in: red wine, and red stained glass (like red votive candles... shame on me for not giving them a verse)! But maybe you get get a hint of those things in the rest of it, anyway. *sigh*

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Garnet

Garnet: sign of softness, holy pain,
Mars held captive in a Saturn ring,
Fallen autumn, winter back again,
War wound, diamond pride, seraph wing;

Jealous eye, the rage and throw of mirth,
Fire-sprouting, crystal crimson flood,
A drop of meekness watering the earth,
A trinity of sweat and tear and blood;

Abandoned star, a songbird in the snow,
Half-tribe, the epiphany of red,
Forbidden fruit of Eden, serpent's head,
Transparent clay, the passionate aglow,
The burning cloth of answers being spun,
A twenty-facet question needing none.