Human Eye In Palm Of Open Hand

 

I knew what it was to yearn for a life so distant

It seemed nothing more than a dream.

What I smelled was not the aroma of fresh baked bread,

But terrified beings thrown like stones into the air.

That which makes for all life is also a part of myself.

 

I saw neighbors, halos of blood encircling their heads,

The work of a lifetime

Lost in a doorway, broken, like a branch in the wind

With its shimmering curtains of light

& leather wings of death.

 

At Grief’s thorns & brambles country club, 

Many are snatched from the earth

Leaving not even a shadow.

I headed out in another direction, past the

Bleached ancient tree,

 

Leopardess circling, loyal to her

Sacred oath, her deepest sacrifice.

Secret courts secret evidence secret charges secret crimes––

Before you came, I was alone, made of dead bodies leaving behind

Writings to ensure that the teachings would not be lost.

 

 

10 June 2013

 

 

[Published in The Groundless Ground: Poems 2010-2014.

© 2014 by Jim Cohn.]