NOCTURNE

A bird decays in mid-air,
then continues on, pecking
out windows, popping
light bulbs with its beak,

while in sixteen darkened bedrooms
boys with gleaming rifles
begin bouncing bee-bees
off the bleached skulls

of their mothers. In other words,
midnight. In other words,
the earth hatches a silence
which, bird-like, spreads

its razor-like wings and
skids along a seam in the night.