Departure Poem by Felix Bongjoh

(song for a patient bouncing back with a peregrine falcon's wings)


(i)

Black landing hawk of monsoon
from sun's chromosphere,
the hanging crown flashing out rays
from Wuhan's deepening shrine.

Let me rise above the storm's
antlered arms. Coal-spider of a wave
roaring on to the edge of a cliff,
let a steady ray scoop out a path

to the shore, where a bounced-back
canary flaps wings, blowing
a breeze through an embouchure hole,

the note from the oboe
lifting life out
of the flowering fire of death's volcano.

(ii)

O wind wave your silver flag.
Wave a snow banner of light to unfold
crystal crowns of life in a communion tray.

Let the priest's moon's plate rise
to my chin to fly me through zircon
and emerald ribbons, a savior's hug,

a blue morpho sailing to light,
the avenue flanked by sapphires of air.

Shall I slip off the drifting edge
of the dome's wall,

a bird dressed in a bow tie?
Let me be the astronaut veiled in the sun's corona,
as I fly out in the soft glow of a candelabra.