Lisa Suhair Majaj

First Year

1.
I shuck myself of child,
drift unanchored
into the blue of evening

a marrowed twig
a bell chimed
to silence

(trees bend beneath the ripening flare
of autumn: horizon of winter
glinting down)

2.
at birth
the last dregs of river light
pooled in her night-flared eyes

music charted
the widening space
between us

Jerusalem in my Heart
a fierce opening
into sound

3.      
in her face
three countries speak:
inflection

of olive
wheat    
oregano
         
already she finds the cat
in two languages
knows the name of love

in three tongues
soon syllables will fall from her lips
the first rain

4.
now trees ignite again
she runs
a twist of motion

unsteady
through the bright chill day
turns at my voice

freeze-frame! I want to shout

before light moves on and over
before autumn breeze
yanks her

forward
into oncoming
weather