Magdalena Ball #8: The Return (Revisited)

The Return (Revisited)
             After Edna St Vincent Millay

Earth, her child
the gregarious town
returns, depleted
to still woods

she knows
in undertones
has always known

wounded lynx
trailing blood
sheltered, anonymous
tasting of dirt and wax

fear is a weight
already undone, her children

trim the year
strip its bones
she forgets us

absorbs it all
war, love, tragedy
books, castles
strategy and structure
seven and a half billion
justifications
hidden dialogues
the broken web of connection
loam

an easy return
for her, to basics
bacteria, the simple life

the warm ledge, this alder leaf


Part 3 of Five Ways with Edna St Vincent Millay