pallus somni

by Jake Kingsley

 

Mother divine, I have caught you sleeping—

lake dark, summer and sorrow hidden again

tumult; a brusqueer tranquility in the fall

of your brow. I promise I have dreamt of you,

Maria, my tongue, pure before the dawn

serrate, broken (reparative fracture—

a prayer) feral. I have watched you grotesque,

bruise, swelter with harvest and maggot, thresh

of a razor— illumine. I have watched you. Who sings

the distant heart as you?