Church of the Assumption,
Bled Island, Slovenia

Here is how you make a wish:
cross the green lake of dreams,
climb the ninety-nine steps
of aspiration.
The sun, your father, praises you.
The church, your mother,
offers you shade.

Dare to put what you most want
into words.
Pull the rope.
Ring the bell.

The tolls that once told us
when to pray, sleep, gather, grieve
resound now to say you've arrived
at this moment of openness.
This moment
of asking.

Susan Millar DuMars published her third collection, The God Thing (Salmon Poetry), earlier this year. She lives in Galway, where she and her husband coordinate the Over the Edge readings series.