Katrina Kaye

the past plays wind instruments
outside bedroom window
a lullaby from a childhood
that slipped by too fast

it’s a tune that has gone unheard
for decades, yet you seem to know
the arrangement of notes
and can anticipate the changing pitch

what melody does the present
sound like other than static
from the television
left on across the room

there is no rush to end the lullaby
it is not the numbed silence from the stillness
of strings and quietude of auditorium we want
but the continuance of the melody

how can we hear the song
when the present is a distracting buzz
when the future is blaring its inevitability
so loud it rattles the windows

this song isn’t urgent to finish
but to be heard as it crests and crescendos
across the bedroom from east facing window
illuminating the dust that sways through stale air

“Lullaby” is previously published in No Longer Water (2024).