Stillborn

Midnight and Yoland has a long walk home
Midwiving a hard labor the baby was stillborn
Still the mother asks to hold the child that never cries
Rocks it gently softly keening a plaintive lullabye
Hush!

Yolanda walks along the river road
Humming softly "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"
The sky has never shined so bright, the night so dry and clear
Crickets and cicadas consolations in the air

Yolanda's husband wakes the children and dresses them for school
"Your mother was up late last night, I've packed your lunch for you"
So the house lies silent and they all will be home soon
By the time she rises in the early afternoon

Then once again Yolanda walks along the river road
Where the live oaks are dying, pines are crying, sits beneath a willow
Prying from that tender trunk a dry cicada shell
Crushes it in her fist as the sound begins to swell