Hegira

Sarah Russell

Those dream-filled summer nights,
a wail, anguished as a banshee,
pierced the rusty screen.
Then the rhythmic clatter grew
until the bed and I would tremble.

Let me come too, I whispered,
but it never heard,
or didn’t understand,
or didn’t care about a little girl
and a gallant torn-eared bear.

The rumbling, shaking wraith
moved on, its cry waning to an echo,
my heartbeat clinging to the cadence
of away from here, away from
here, away

– Sarah Russell
First published in Black Poppy Review

21 thoughts on “Hegira”

  4. I was imagining either a tornado or a speeding train. I never encountered a tornado but once unwittingly camped on a hillside beneath a train and the sound and vibration were all consuming. Love the poem top to bottom and especially “pierced the rusty screen” and the “gallant torn-eared bear.”

    Like

    Reply

  5. Earthquake is what popped into my mind. What a terrifying experience and you captured that really well in writing which is not an easy thing to do. I love these sort of haunting writes!

    Like

    Reply

  7. Beautifully written poem. I can’t help think as much as the girl wanted to go, maybe it was better for her to stay? I’m not sure the clattering and other sense aspects have me the idea this thing isn’t good.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment