DO YOU HEAR ME MISSING YOU?
By Pyrène
Hear her, hear the grey goat, udders spent and empty, she bleats,
she calls for last year’s
baby - the one who danced around her when
the grass was greener still than this.
Lie down, body against the green grass, green
yes, but not as green as last year’s, lie
down as she does, feel the sun on your back,
it used to feel warmer than this.
Press it, press your ear to the cool ground, ignore
the ants that walk over your hand, this is
their dirt too, they know better than you what the
earth takes into her arms.
Breathe out, smell the earth, arms full of her children, she speaks,
she passes on the message, hear
your mother, she says, do you hear
your mother?
Do you hear him, hear last year’s baby, feet tired and still, he answers,
he calls back to her, out of a gaping
maw of white bone - I hear you, I hear you, I hear you -
I have not forgotten you.