Editor’s Choice

You will find it in the stillness

by Katherine DiBella Seluja

You will christen him with saline

wash the noise and tape away

acetone ghosting from the room

you will wrap his tiny form

in the sheet they call morgue pack

only pale white morning moons remain

when ventilator's incessant

waves of breathing come to rest

when persistent pulsing

monitor is done

when the shining beads of moisture

inside his breathing tube are gone

pale white morning moons remain

It is then that you will feel

the ancient mantle

on your chest

drop like sodden wool

yet light as infant's breath

it is then that you will bow

you head and mumble ragged prayer

silent    awkward    praise

© 2013  Katherine DiBella Seluja

Katherine DiBella Seluja received degrees from Yale and Columbia University.  Her poems have appeared in New Mexico Poetry Review, Santa Fe Literature Review, and Sin Fronteras.  Her chapbook, After the Thread Unravels, was a finalist in the 2012 Bordighera Poetry Competition.   She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and dreams in Siena.