Agitated Air [by one bird late chanting]

(by one bird
          late chanting)
(if bird is knowing
          not naming)
(how lovers)
          (first thing
were fastening)
          (then nothing)
(if hell is watching
          their fading)
(if night is naming
          not finding)
(if wind is
          their breathing)
(is something)

(if night is
          but cloaking)
(world never
          not shining)
(if river is not
          stopping
crying not crossing)

(if weather)
(if lightning is heart
          beating faster)
(if raining is not
          stopping
wanting)
          (what’s missing)

(if you are forever
          comparing)
(a person to trees)
          (try reversing)
(if you)
          (were like me)
(if branching to bodies)
          (flowers)
(feeling)

Credit

From Agitated Air: Poems After Ibn Arabi (Tenement Press, 2022) by Yasmine Seale and Robin Moger. Copyright © 2022 by Yasmine Seale and Robin Moger. Used with the permission of the authors.