Another Night Song

after "Night Song" by Lisel Mueller

Among children, I was the golden one
Among days, I was the dusk
Among trees, I was the supple birch
Among girls, the somber nun

Among fruit, now I am the drying fig
As mother, the tender ogre
Among seas, I am the sobbing foam
In springtime, the lusty redbud twig

Among birds, might I end my days
cardinal sharp or bunting bright
Among forests, I pray my final hours
Be glistened with the warbler's praise

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Claudia Kessel works as a nonprofit grant writer in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her poetry has been published in Richmond Magazine as a finalist in the 2021 Shann Palmer Poetry Contest, awarded by James River Writers, and has placed in the 2022 Poetry Society of Virginia contest.