Today we continue with more poems from Ali Cobby Eckermann’s award winning novel Ruby Moonlight,
After the massacre, long after the massacre, the young woman sleeps.
Dream
in her sleep she dreams
of a guardian spirit
who sits nearby watching
the young woman’s sleeping form
her beauty is unbounded
even in trauma
tight ringlets frame her face
in slumber she looks childlike
her telltale tribal nose is wide
her stature confirms her ancestry
her bosom and buttocks are firm
her stomach is taut
this spirit familiar
is a Shadow too
Shelter
there is a bend along the river
where fish slow in shallow water
she hears them splash
in the shelter of sandstone
under the overhang hidden by trees
she slumps in shadowed sorrow
in this overhang a cool breeze blows
language sings in her skin
she lays within prayer and prospect
there is little movement
days pass without incident
she tunes to river flow
Ali Cobby Eckermann
Ruby Moonlight
Magdala 2012