Two Poems by Dah

Enchanted

  

In sheer fog

the Santa Lucia's wear a thin

silvery gauze

as if earth's body has transformed

only to guide me beneath

the morning’s moon

 

Spread across the meadow

a herd of dappled light

like sheep set out to graze

 

Lifted by this chilled wind

a tired yellow leaf rises and flutters

as if a leftover pulse

from autumn’s old vein

 

and I am enchanted by

the features of

mist and mountains

leaf and light

and the discourse of crows

above the stillness of sheep

 

silence / mindfulness

 

a faded April moon

 

 

 

Solo Flight

  

In this valley of earth

the wind

comes with the same gift

the same solitary wind

that carries

faith without speaking

 

with the same sightless purity

that sees everything

as it is

that causes the same quiver of branches

that have pulled their skins

out of the soil and rocks

 

The wind’s long horn blows

into this valley’s earthen jug 

and applies its wisdom

as thin as

this silver hair that holds the heat

to my bones

 

this wisdom that assembles and

stirs above me watching and

me standing

below

in this valley as cold as heaven

 

where there has always been

and even now a river’s

unsaid oath and lyrics

where birds drop feathers

where birds balance the wind

even in sleep

 

even when nothing moves

even when knowing that

each feather dropped

can fly

 

alone

 

each one

gifted with the wind’s wisdom 

 

 

 

 

Dah’s poetry has appeared, most recently, in The Sandy River Review, Stone Voices Magazine, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Orion headless, Words & Images In Flight, and Miracle Magazine, and is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, Perfume River Review, River & South Review, and Literature Today. The author of two collections of poetry from Stillpoint Books, his third collection is due for publication in 2014, also from Stillpoint. Dah lives in Berkeley, California, where he is currently working on the manuscript for his fourth book.