The Gathering

March 2003

Sand dusted skies behind me

Storms in the offing

I drive eastward to you

angsting about minor transgressions, venial sins. You want a confessor

On TV ward screens war whoops are rising to a crescendo. Iraq is on the brink 

There’s a bus bomb in Haifa. A car bomb in Cúcuta

I tell you that Moses’ tablet didn’t outreach to your sins

You are adamant

North Korea is testing short range missiles in the Sea of Japan. 

Castro is re-elected. Chirac is visiting Algeria to make atonement

We don’t talk of funeral plans, cremation or burial or hymn sheets or readings

How do I say, “Mother, you are dying”?

You know

I know you know

The unspoken muffles the spoken

Sars has hit Canada, UN personnel are withdrawn from Iraq. Missile strikes begin

You ask, “Is it happening?”

Meteorites are exploding over Chicago, Illinois, the Mid West

The sky is raining fragments of shattering stars. The storm has arrived

and you are slipping away

 Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2019