Poem | Repentance

Too bad to stay here
Until the snow.
How do the birds live?
Where does the sky go?

Who can afford us?
We’ll be let out
For good and all:
Raw paws, bruised snout.

What were we doing?
You wrote a blog.
I bought a toothbrush
For a dog.

How can we claim
Our hearts were riven?
What ledger shows
Our mercy given?

I try to breathe
Air like a stone,
Like dirty water.
We are alone.

Published in the October 2019 issue: 
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Sarah Ruden has published several books, including, most recently, The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible and a new translation of Augustine’s Confessions.

Also by this author
Rhyming Pages

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