War Quakes

//war quakes

First Poem Since 9/11

by Elizabeth Southwood

Leaves nod in the wind.
Sun sparkles on dewdrops.
Boughs of trees whisper.
Green-needled pines sigh
like an echo of ocean..

In medieval times behind
the curtain of nightmares,
devils clung like burs.
One chases me through a dream.

I make a cross wih my fingers
and I pray. Åfter darkest midnight
I stand under a starry sky,
watch the white owl, who
lives in our tallest tree.
He silently sets sail, wings outstretched,
floats in front of trees hidden by night.

I watch shooting stars arc
across the sky, some with
thick, sparking wakes, others with
tails like glowing threads.
I shiver and go back to bed.