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Poem: “Set Us Free”

Set Us Free

Do you not know
That we are seeds in the desert
Seeds in the desert
Small enough
That only stars can see us,
Those great eyes?

In this dreadful desert
In this desiccation
Rain may come in decades
And more decades
While we lie within the soil

But then in years
In ten or twenty years
In fifty, eighty years
Or all at once
A rain of love will set us free
To flower in the desert
And the stars will see

Pavel
September 23, 2011


Pavel Chichikov is a Washington DC-based poet and photographer. He has written for both the secular and the Catholic press on issues as diverse as Russian nuclear weapons systems, Olympic athletes, and miracles. His books include From Here to Babylon: Poems by Pavel Chichikov,  Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov, Mysteries and Stations in the Manner of Ignatius, and Animal Kingdom. Pavel may be heard reading his works on catholicradiointernational.com and on pavelreads.com. His poetry regularly appears on "The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov."