Writer: Anthony SalandyEditor: Doaa Saady Shattered clay and strewn leaves Do lament on earthen grounds tormented By winds whose hostility grows rampant, Swiveling and twirling all round their framing As they depart their crease Crunching beneath one’s feet, Where clouds appear as one breathes- And hoary rain whispers cool truths On the downtrodden souls Of the meek who inherit and inhabit Earth, In conformity, chants a choir Of elegant finches and sparrows In a ravishing land where the vibrant orange rivers mirror a soothing sky, But torment exists in Perpetual As restless minds grow consumed By ethereal worry and phobia, A season so calm yet so fraught Where daylight shimmers and wind howls And nighttime’s gloom becomes vigilant- Until all rustlings may lay dormant Amongst arboreal creatures nocturnal And hoary elements- That grows ever stronger as a year begins anew.