Abhaile - Audra Burwell

discover 

    your bloodline

    on     a       Camden         hillside 

graves still mourning 

your absence 

when you left 

for a world remade 

by dragon-sick souls 

diseased    hierarchies 

bleeding   buried light

where     the land 

was   never       home

would not          give

would  not bend 

to the cry     of

a barren heart 

newly     born 

from soured     soil 

outside hatred 

bruises a sky           black 

as you     say 

goodbye                     to 

yesterday’s       lie

excavate   tombs

filled with         milk

a         necropolis   

of ancestors       lost 

and waiting         for 

your     return

Audra Burwell earned her BA in Creative Writing from California State University, Fresno. She is currently pursuing an MFA degree in Creative Writing with a specialization in poetry.