Cathy Ruiz

Lone Egret

          Molakai, Hawaii

A leper’s silence
pursues the corners in a room
stirred up by dust, while
solitude, a lone egret,
crosses the road,

amidst voices
of suffering
that hang like tattered kites onto the wind.
Their destiny
strings still
connect them to
this tiny piece of volcanic
earth.

The Southern Cross,
fallen onto its side,
slides into a
nether
hemisphere, dragged
with passing constellations as
spoken
sacrifices
shudder and
bend
tall grasses against
the sand.

Abandoned faces stare up through
lava rock,
fingers skitter along cliffs,

while doves coo at morning
a promise soon
vanquished
by a leper’s silence.


Copyright 1997, Cathy Ruiz


Cathy Ruiz is an ardent traveler and much of her writing evolves from this. Her poetry will appear this fall in New To North America, a cross-cultural anthology, and Mediphors. She is also a creative writing teacher.

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