Heartbeat of the World~ By Susan Dale

Within a sleep 
of the universal dream
dreaming me
I lean out in the darkness
to hear a heartbeat of the world

Listening wide 
straining with sinew and soul
I hear flapping wings 

Ah, it is the bird of scripture
The Vikings buried him 
Remember, with your being, 
he under layers of Arctic ice 

Prophesy decreed 
that a shrill brass sun 
melt and free his wings 
to thrash the skies to raw skin winds
Winds to push across 
skies, deeply moving 
Winds to push clouds
to gallop through the heavens

Wings talk around winds

But what words tell of winds
gasping with the sounds of dead things washing on shore
Ashes - bones
arteries clogged with oil
Oil - the black blood of our destruction 

And in the air, a heavy scent of gone 

West winds blow vapors cold on leaves, quivering 
on trees with thin chests 
and branches reach out in search of embrace

Oh, tired earth of heavy-lidded eyes
dusty clouds - weeping waters
of voices deafened by silence

Our words spoken with fingers
forming the telling 
of living to die
existing to endure

We have filled 
to fall out of ourselves
and so must we swim to the moon
But what will light our way? 
Our shadows lengthening and widening 
darken the moon
Souls of stars lie bare
The black V of wings beat the sun to shreds 

Winds dip and roar
Yet stir up only pale raindrops

In this hollow rain 
stands a girl with broken umbrella
She’s trading her memories
for a withered apple in a faded pocket 

Her brother sells his poems 
a penny apiece
All begin with the line … 
life yearns to live
And end … 
life is longing for itself


Author Bio:
Susan Dale's poems and fiction are on Hurricane Press, Ken *Again, Penman Review, Inner Art Journal, Feathered Flounder, Garbanzo, and Linden Avenue. In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan.