Night Of Repentance Poem by Reva Kern

My glass is full
Of shimmering wine
Like a flame
Listen -
The slow song
Of a ferryman
Who tells of
Having seen
Beneath the moon
Seven women
Twist their long
Green hair
To their feet
Standing and singing
In high voices then
Dancing in circles -

I no longer
Understand the song
Of the ferryman -
Bring me near
the blondes
With wound braids
Who stare stoically -

Oh, the Rhine
The wild Rhine
Reflecting the vineyards
All the gold
Of falling nights
Glittering, illuminating -

The singing voice
Always sounds melancholic
And the fairies
With green hair
Enchant the summer -

My glass breaks
Like a burst of laughter.