I.

i awake to find my hands plunged six feet into soft earth,

sky above me gray like bad is coming,

like death is coming

crow on my shoulder so familiar now—

old friend singing that same song

i hear it even when it’s gone,

humming out what hurts, what heals

hands hit jar, then bone,

glass encasing the demon—

man given life and woman ripped from rib

woman ripped from life

six feet under

and hands hit bone,

small like they weren’t here long

drowned dreams deferred and

dead

they say they found her

dead

man missing too, search gone sour

gone dead

little story on the news and hands hit bone

sky gray so gray,

rain on the solstice

soft earth gone sad-silent,

gone sad-sour

gone

II.

the rain comes on the solstice,

summer blue-gray like loss

like remembering

like those days spent searching before the silence

little bird on my shoulder silent now

silence now

III.

demons go still in glass,

silent now,

silence now