When The Ravens Drop

~ for Gaza ~

“Gauze on my Hand” image by author

For Gaza

Gauze* — derived from Arabic ‘gazz’ which means raw silk. For centuries Gaza weavers have been weaving the finest gauze.

… I loved to watch the ravens come

children shrieked

when the ravens dropped

flowers closed as the ravens fell

green-eyed cats turned

sinew and stealth.

Ravens ate what children threw

and flapped away as the Bulbul sang…

Like shards of hematite

frozen ravens sit in

a muttered sleep.

cobwebbed by smoke

a full moon hangs.

Festooned with shame

and borrowed light in

a dusty penumbra

it drags itself and

cohort celestial bodies

along deep sapphirine

immensities of

unholy indifference.

How can they not

moan, these constellations,