Caravans of lies,
red herrings and pretexts
roll over me.
   
 
Yet this consolation lady
begins the arduous climb,
from postdated memories,
to heal me with song.
   
She senses I am more
than a bog of depression,
a doctor of divinity for the wounded.
   
 
She knows I am more
than my name.
   
Serenading me, she
undoes the saddening of my days.
   
Her songs awaken me
from tombs where cemeteries swim,
where each night founders rudderless.
   
In her serenades she
shows a rare tenderness,
an ear for the signatures of sadness,
buoys up these convictions, and
helps hoist justice
for this body's spreading guerrilla dance.
   

Richard Alan Bunch is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of several collections of poetry, including Greatest Hits, Wading the Russian River, and A Foggy Morning. His poems have been translated into Italian, Hindi, and Japanese. His poetry has appeared in Black Moon, Poetry New Zealand, Orbis, Dirigible, Poetry Midwest, and the Hawai’i Review. His latest collection is Running for Daybreak.