If this is a lament

They speak of a land that never was,

a non-existent tongue.

There is no utterance,

no words.

If we're put on earth

to understand each other –

who can make sense of death?

Explain how the mountains stole breath,

or translate the darkness

that has fallen?

Who can say what burgeons

in a child's dream?

Flapping out of an ancient tale,

birds' wings bear down

on me – and skin's

akin to stone

as the old women used to say.

When darkness falls

beyond the mountains,

the people I remember look to me

in pain. My words are elegy.

If this is a lament,

we haven't even

begun to cry.