Cheng-Du Dawn
by Rene Navarro

Still awake, bats
Fly over the dark river
And a crescent moon

They decended toward
The moon again and again
As if to touch it

Beside the willows
An old woman draws circles
Summoning silence

Her fingers stroke
Lute strings and peacock tails
In the damp warm ai

The woman listens
To the beginnings of light
In her flesh and bones

Come watch the ritual
She unreels the Tao in silk
From cocoons of mist

Deep in her navel
A votive candle flickers
A flaming odalisque