Smoke
And the blue horizon
Raised her eyes,
And in witness to
Her sister’s fate,
Spoke.
“Death,”
She said at last,
“And all the gods come to weep,
And the sun drips blood,
And demons come laughing,
Bringing darkness in their train
As she who joins me in eternity
Breathes a dying
Breath.
Night
Would be a sadder time
Alone, bereft of my sole companion,
But that the gods,
Summoned by my sister’s plight
Joined hands, and gave my loneliness
Light.
They
Do not so much create
As allow some glimpse of that land
Where darkness never comes
To reach the world of men that cannot fly,
And keep me good company
Until it comes my time to be reborn
As I regain my life, my sister,
And darkness takes my blood in payment
As it flees, fearful before
The onslaught of
Day.”
Summer, 1985