Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Cartography


The Echo of What Remains Collected Poems of Wanda Lea Brayton







— Inspired by the poem "Boy and Egg" by Naomi Shihab Nye



He is riven by the delta's whirl,
unable to disengage from the sandbar's grip,
his currents lost to an unknown tide.

He understands 
the secret language of Spanish moss and pleads 
for magnolias to fill his eyes once more.

Beneath nascent loam, his roots are tender,
seeking anchor.

Trailing through dark waters, his fingers 
discover sharp edges of shells, 

once containers of life, 

now bereft of a single notion
or an ocean's small sigh.

He weeps quietly as the moon rises in silent song; 
a burning wave of salt flows across his features
as if in afterthought, his sextant mislaid, perhaps even forgotten
as he remembers the seasonal paths of stars,

sculpting geography of countries he's never seen.





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