Libby Travassos Valdez
Ivan's Ghost
Sometimes I hear them at night
in the river's confusion
thin at the cusp of hearing
sharp quarter-tones like a bird or a cat
trapped in the interface of air and water.
And sometimes, near where the heron stands,
I glimpse one at dawn
shivering in mist beneath the alders
watching, waiting for a sign.
I lean out in sleep towards her
trying to let her know the war is over
the fighting done.
But her liquid language proves
too alien for my tongue
and the token that must be exchanged
lies lost on the river floor.
She doesn't see me and I
can't touch her freezing hands,
I can't speak to her nor stop
her feathered breath from fading.
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