KISKADEE DAWN
Dee
Dee
Dee
Qu’est ce qu’il dit?
I think I understand
The reticence to overspeak one’s
Case in dark times.

A single light comes up in
Foreday morning’s theatre in reverse.
A lone bird tuning up.

In time less than time,
Painter- Dawn makes notes upon night’s curtain-
Strokes of pink and blue; suggestions
For a threatening nimbus; studies
For a San Fernando Hill-
Then sets fire to the emerging composition.

A flock of light takes wing
From house to stage.
Colour takes form
And Bird -Dawn sing:
Kis
Kis
Kiskadee.
No, nothing lost in
These translations of the hour-
Under this sun,
Dawn is dawn
In every tongue.

Ian Dieffenthaller
from Crossed Suns