Prelude

Outside: waiting;
outside

not a leaf leans forward
not a lark flies
not a stone bends towards
not a branch rends sky

Still. A white stag blurs the water as he drinks
Still. A huntsman sits, pommeled by his girth
Still your dead stir, crying
in damp earth.

Outside seeds are breaking;
outside bones are burst;

Fracture frees marrow and germ
from the seething berm.