Winter Solstice

Yes, Sweetness
a white shadow shimmers
on the X-ray
of the future. Yes,
the children cry out
in their sleep. Yes, thirst
follows fever. Sweetness,
I’ll tell you
how the animals
come like shadows
to a river,
how they bow
in darkness, feel
for the water
with their wide, patient
tongues, how their wet muzzles
glitter. No, Sweetness,
in this story, night
is not its own prognosis.

(published in Narrative Magazine)