HEALING DAY

A white owl with red eyes

lands the sky

We twist around, go for

the open garden’s edge

drawn to the sounding river

because the back

is a flowing river

rising to silt

the danger

darkness has become

     *

The lover, the friend,

and the stranger

each will betray you

the lover for passion,

which is beyond reproach,

the friend for gain,

which will not last,

the stranger for evil,

which has no recompense

With each you must go

willingly, permit all wounds

to bear weight 

lost directions,

scar threading sinuous

complexities

     *

The brightening light

we wade in

obliterates distress

powerful

as a mountain,

as its agile lion,

moving past

the owl still

until the last

wing feathers 

stitched to the taxidermist's

skeleton