January 4, 2023 - “It’s Just Us” by Rahil Najafabadi

IT’S JUST US

The ones that bent the grass hoping next year would be gentle—

We palmed the soil with its cold demeanor like we are not all Earth.

I’m wishing the longest night will last the whole year.

I’ll wake up when it’s light again, the sun has said hello to the tiger.

A scratch on my forehead bringing that spring to my attention.

It is the first morning since we brumated and became the rain’s draft.

I was gone for a while in a fold of the winter that had its last warmth—

My blood and bone became the pomegranate seeds, and we could see

the night long awakened is the shortest day,

But light was enough to see the loneliness of the air.