Clarity
Vievee Francis

Sorrow, O Sorrow moves like a loose flock
of blackbirds sweeping over the metal roofs, over the birches,
     and the miles.
One wave after another, then another, then the sudden
      opening

where the feathered swirl, illumined by the dusk, parts to reveal

the weeping heart of all things.

(Vievee Francis is the author of four books of poetry. She teaches
poetry and poetics at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.)