Sheikha A., Pakistan-United Arab Emirates
For and after Tighe O'Donoghue Ross
The long night is coming, as is the long day on the saddle
of autumn; the short dusk rides a golden armour on smoke;
the sun melts from low-hung amber ceiling –
broad as sound/taper as light – stalactites of heat
cracking at its base, their fall only to pierce
abdomens of gushing shores. Arching oceans
recede against a winning war with frost – the poles
of mammals – like the white husks on stars densed
by prismatic fog, the pyramid of evolution – existence
by evaluation, the chromosome of radiance enveloping
the sky’s rims – multi-jewelled reigning string of gases –
there is more colour as the stake dives deeper into
the heart of the earth. And, this life, in the cobalt midst
of azure, the songs of stones on lips of birds, moss
and grass perfuming soils, and this breathing of stems
where the flowers rest, the glistening of pollen from
the sweat of bees, the regale of leaves on stooped
branches, the labour of rain from wombs of clouds,
above and beneath the gradual advent of collapse.
Listen close, nearby an aurora births from its shell.
Sheikha A. is from Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. Her works appear in a variety of literary venues, both print and online, including several anthologies by different presses. Recent publications are Strange Horizons, Pedestal Magazine, Atlantean Publishing, Alban Lake Publishing, and elsewhere. Her poetry has been translated into Spanish, Greek, Arabic and Persian. She has also appeared in Epiphanies and Late Realizations of Love, an anthology that has been nominated for a Pulitzer. More about her can be found at sheikha82.wordpress.com.