Magellanic Cloud

Beyond fallowed land
Pillow tangled in
The brush, asleep.

The starlit sky slowly turns
As the last ashes burn.

A snake peeps out its head
From a nearby quarry.
The moon shone.
In the backwoods, there are crickets.

A sleepy town remains undercover.
Swans hug their young on the banks.
Each hollow crawling, breathing.
Springs pour out above sodium vapor glows and
Sounds of static.

Bread remains half eaten by the pillow
Hands chilled by the fire
Something inside narrows and lifts.

Winds rising in calculated progression
Compass in hand
Researching the inner realms.

Magnetic drifts
Having force upon the land.

This place is seen by a child who has taken flight.
A bright uncontrolled passion,
Gleams the universe.

The woman tries to communicate to the child
From the brush,
Dark hair ravened by moon.
She touches the child’s cheek, silky white.
Around the trees, there is a humming, and then a
Pulling away.

The woman awakes abruptly.
The stone, warm beside her.
Ashes dance up from the fire hole.

A child wakes up with the smell of fire on her lips
From beneath white covers.

© -Sonja J Phinney 1991