
Illustration: Ajita Kanthathasan
the wind is a traitor
it whispers your dreams
eurus’ gales seep through inseams of torn jeans
stripping away the undergrowth
until all that remains are forlorn figures
the sun is a prayer
that pledges an oath fated to be broken
your justifications spent like arcade tokens
but when they turn their backs you turn to me
and find peace in my eve
your homeland is a falsity
a sweet lullaby slathered in ecstacy
a tonic of insouciance i willingly imbibe
a state of denial, a cycle of grief
a pyramid scheme built on compromise
and as the hurricane stagnates
as the sun eclipses
as our country is swallowed by war and sea
wading through soot and debris
dawned an epiphany
a sapling burst through the scorched earth
that grew into a sacred forest
new beginnings after senseless destruction
history fading into fiction