GHAZAL

Do we remember love before neglect?

For too long, mother, I’ve returned to your neglect.

Dusk offers a fractured memory of light.

Darkening grass conceals its own tale of neglect.

Can you teach me to remember joy?

Your life is a coupling: remorse, neglect.

By dying, my father may have been loved best.

Mother, how are we still subject to his neglect?

Bluebirds and finches return to my yard each spring.

Abandoned nests reveal the science of neglect.

Nights in bed, I’ve listened to my infants’ cries.

Puncturing silence, that refrain: neglect, neglect.

In Hebrew, Shara means she sings.

What song can offer the antidote for neglect?