Twentieth Hour
I fold silence in two like a napkin
and placing it on the lap of my mind
I let the air go out of my lungs as
enormous wings spread wide to borders
directing updrafts as the eagle’s
eyes pick up the hopping
hare green eyes of grass
visionary’s focus on reflection
of eagle in wide translucent river
with the salmon upstream flexing
whirl of rainbow trout and
rustling willow above them
grizzly bear guards the path of
fish and man as feast becomes
a reasonable spread and her post is
defended against all intruders yet
the sound of a rifle echoes
cracks so close the post
allotted by benevolent old Death
is lost to the wanton bullet as an
amateur observer blinks His eyes
and finds something else to look at
retrieving opulence amid
thickest guilt milked for
its symbol to elucidate a natural scene
and nothing remains to keep me down
If I could unfold
wings in the wind rising
as though I wished it amid my
soft plumes like eyes mirroring rays
as they begin a sublime dance
between needles of the pine
eagle spreads spans his wings to borders
asking ‘why?’ and the authority beyond
answers: who cares?
Manolis Aligizakis 