Ave de Rapina (Bird of Prey)
after John 5:25 and 2 Peter 3:7
Sunlight coming is already here:
hillsides kept in store for burning
burn while the shadows cry prepare.
In Morella, Spanish hilltown, tear
in heaven's eye, I feel the churning
of a wind that's coming and is here
on the tower and on the next hill, where
cedars, dark against the morning,
stir, as if to cry prepare,
while on a distant ridge appear
the silhouettes of horsemen, returning
from a past that's coming and is here—
a softness in the cloister air,
the sand in the bullring warming—
almond blossoms cry prepare.
Sunlight on the winding stair
turns to shadow without warning.
Something coming is already here,
burning, stirring, blossoming—
DL