BIRDS BURST INTO FLOWER

As she saw bombs burst into her backyard

she saw birds burst into flower

As he bit into the sandwich of death

he saw blazing armies of angels ride down a distant hill

As they played in a circle holding hands for the

last time the wide-eyed children felt a

geyser of silver light lift them into heaven

Rotors and rollers across house roofs and voices

became symphonic variations with bells and xylophones
in the ears of their dwellers

A scream took the shape of a blue phoenix

shot upward over a now desolate restaurant

in a golden display of unfolding fire in whose

heat vibrations you can see all the dead

in their prime getting ready for the

grand fiesta

Faced with no alternative

the cornered soap seller sang his favorite

aria from Verdi opening his vest button by button

and his mouth at last over a gulf of silence

The last bird out of the city

kept the sun on her right as she wheeled to a

nearby pasture

its light on her feathers

flashing an SOS to no one

Though God saw it

and exclaimed His Name to Himself

in the constant midst of our

mortal conflagration