THE PIEBALD

University of Maryland

A valley, open A woman, a white tern – a fairy bird, with egg, leaf, and mossy green child

Blessed fawn, you are life in the soil and blue with sorrow. Why? You are a breath, birthed from a mottled tree with peeling bark.

You see her rise, and you must flee. Look: Behind her, a trembling one whose song is a mist-veiled note, well worn and warmly heard. Not young, but flushed and

flowering, like you