Bandelier

Bandelier

Stand quietly beneath the Corn Moon.
Do you hear the drums?
In a long-forgotten tongue the old ones
chant thanks for successful crops
that will stave off Winter’s indifference.

Do you see them?
Above the river children peer out
from windows in the cliff
watching the dancers’ shadows
cast by the Moon.

Now that the harvest is in
tomorrow their father may have time
to draw another animal on the wall
like the strange bird
from his journey south.

Why did they flee this canyon
whose walls gave shelter?
whose river nurtured their crops?
What banished them from this Eden?

Author: Marianne Gambaro
Website  |  On OMPJ

Photo: Rabah Al Shammary on Unsplash