At the Gates

The quotidian deaths keep piling

their black ruins into the earth.

Life approaches on hushed feet,

carrying her cage of multicolored birds.

We best make our peace with these mausoleums,

these open houses of the rain.

Rickshaws carry our aging parents

to the gates of the city.

Their eyes are exhausted

by the cascading light.

After so much stone

I’m hungry for the sight

of dragonflies.

Those shimmering blue bodies

filling my hands.

Those dark jewels

quietly clutched

from a burning sky.

Seth Jani lives in Seattle, WA and is the founder of Seven CirclePress (www.sevencirclepress.com). Their work has appeared in The American Poetry Journal, Chiron Review, The Comstock Review, Ghost City Review, Rust+Moth and Pretty Owl Poetry, among others. Their full-length collection, Night Fable, was published by FutureCycle Press in 2018. Visit them at www.sethjani.com.