Kali Ma

In the darkest of dark,
the baby opens its eyes
as the ticking clock stops.
The air turns bitter.

Outside, guns are silenced
as men fall to their knees.
Women peel icicle tears from their cheeks
and frail children crawl from dumpsters.

She appears--stoic and starved--
bloodied palms at her side.
She swallows the screams
of vultures claiming rotted flesh.

The earth trembles and cracks
as she plunges her hands into the soil
raising fistfuls to the Heavens.
From deep within she wails,
head reared and eyes wild.

The city bursts into flames.
No one fights.

Then silence.

She inhales deeply,
engulfing the destroyed.

As she turns from the ashes,
a sprout pushes through
the soil of her footprint,
and she disappears
into the echo of the baby's coo.