The bird of limitless flight

is trying to be born—
evolution    late again.

It is the night of the full moon in Gemini,
facing both forward and back, an endless white disk.

The Green Book tallies the sum of life—
the yeses, the nos, the could-have-beens,

the way a hummingbird hovers, relentless
but there, iridescent, inscrutable, nature's mirabilia,

as if the Holy Prophet,
May Peace be upon him!

raised his hand, blessed this space,
and why not    this too    could be a path to the divine,

an interrogation of the past
leading to a convergence of possible futures.

The moon is a quirky witness to the scene.
Will it tell, or keep the story to itself?

Shaheen's larcenous heart sits still, beats, ruts, and leaps,
steals what it can, leaves what it must.

back to issue

Shaheen Dil's poems have been published in over two dozen journals and anthologies. She has new work forthcoming in Calyx Journal, The Atlanta Review, and Main Street Rag. Her first poetry collection, Acts of Deference, was published in 2016 by Fakel Publishing House in Sofia, Bulgaria. She is a long-term member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange.