Dawn

by Lucien Stryk

Sunup.  A noisy rumor simmers
in the leaves over dark whispers
of an iffy past.  The chorus quickens

as a fossil hunter unmasks yesterdays,
unsettling the archivist revising
history.  Shoving war’s blood

and bone under a meadow of poppies
unfolding to live honey seekers.
These things happened, as hungry

birds swooped out of flaming trees,
and mother vole suckled her young
away from the eyes of tomorrow.