An Iraqi woman watches as soldiers from Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment searches her home near Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Curse One: The Wraith
by Cynthia Huntington
The twist of your red mouth is the torque of poison.
Tangle of leaves, spill of leaves, slow rot of leaves. . .
Misery, ruin, iniquity. You are the scuffling thing in dry grass.
Rodent, snail, the curly-legged spider, centipede, rat snake.
I see you by the back-hooded barbecue in November, brooding
like the smoke of burned meat. The fire in the coals gone out,
the sun hung low and weak in smoldering sky, cold
breath of winter. You are all smoke breath, grief, and conniving.
You are the alien thing invading my garden, a haunt, a plague,
lurking beyond light and warmth, there in the shadows wearing
death inside out, a curse on the sky. You are a spot, a flaw, a
blotch and a stain on the world you corrupt and I hate
you and fear you and look for you everywhere with dread.
6 comments:
for peace
I witness.
Peace, and witness
I witness for peace.
"I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned."
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Witness.
Phoenixes that played here once, so that the place was named for them,
Have abandoned it now to this desolated river;
The paths of Wu Palace are crooked with weeds;
The garments of Chin are ancient dust.
...Like this green horizon halving the Three Peaks,
Like this Island of White Egrets dividing the river,
A cloud has risen between the Light of Heaven and me,
To hide his city from my melancholy heart.
By Li Po(701-762); Translation by Kenneth Hope.
peace
Post a Comment