Heavy with war

so much more than this house will bear

lights flicker and we lose

our connection to the world

 

Power out   daylight in Ukraine and the rain is not rain

it’s a shelling that takes

a row of houses, a public library

Musicians circle a crater left by a bomb to play

the music of resistance

yes, there will be singing  

In Russia defiant voices sing out

Ukraine’s Anthem

as peace activists are dragged away

& young people circle riot police like schools of fish resisting

 

How to sing out to disappearing trees

the uprising of flames, the temper of ocean,

Hemlock in the glen holding the banks of a rising stream

 

Not rain, this weather, the fully articulate

anger of men who crave

 

The map is hexed with strategies

A vortex pulls us in

 

power out spirits enter our house

oak walnut the bones of this house

rock back and forth, keening

this candlelight, a circle of prayer

the frequency of blood pulsing

this warm body so loud it startles

 

and I am thinking how

short the history

of electric, bridges and lights

and cars and power, medicine and poverty

our humming electric fridge

 

How loud, the war

 

It is late, we walk outdoors

where a few neighbors

gather to watch the disappearing light

& the clouds illuminate

the distance of stars, and moon

like a ring or a boat rises

 

this quiet I wish for you, Ukraine