Poetry

Night Music

Listen with your heart

by on

Your breath is a steady rhythm
that counters
the sounds that echo through the night.

After the swoosh
of an owl’s wings overhead,
you answer with a sigh.

Before the chatter
of coyotes recommences,
you inhale
in preparation to respond.

Your voice competes with the chirping of cicadas,
muffles the soft thumps
of rabbits’ feet padding down the path,
and carries over the wind’s whistle
as it rustles leaves
tainted milky in the moonlight.

The evening’s song becomes syncopated —
stress placed on your input
instead of nature’s mellifluous beats —
and you wish for your own silence.

You remember the way in which
you could collaborate
when you were quiet,
and you can almost hear
the rhythm of the music
that you used to dance to.