Lullaby for the Sicker Sister
After the ballad of the Twa Sisters / de Två Systrarna / Binnorie
How fast infection—like attachment—holds—.
Dearest, seek rest now in harbourage—your curative
in homecoming—. We have captured this castle—
sown the fields with salt—plucked roots surpass the
martyr’s cross—tapers their benign coals—. Mark how
your blossoms bleed—all such imperiousness—.
Warm your wayward head, my own—safe in furrowed
catchments cried—. The dark dog of dreams
makes ready to devour—the accent of your foreign
ways—. To do good—to be just—wrest the catches
of your coronet—collapse into shapelessness—.
Malady—once compressed—turns down the stilling
eyeshades of the night—. Fever pares you
into feathers—. Always admiring yourself in flight—
aren’t you—dear heart, my own prodigal?
Dr Kathryn Hummel is a writer, researcher, multi-media artist and editor from Adelaide. Author of five books of poems, her creative and scholarly works have been internationally published/performed /translated /anthologised/ recognised. Poetry collections forthcoming in 2019: Lamentville (Math Paper Press) and splashback (2nd ed.) [Prote(s)xt Books].