Lullaby
on the occasion of Paris attacks, 13/11/2015
The stars revolve around our heads,
& this moon is no fake –
I just cannot help but give,
but am I authorized to take?
I know we love our pretty city –
but one day we all have to go.
Will I stay here with my pigeons?
We all unlearn, just to know.
I am older than the Seine –
you are youthful as new snow.
Oh, but it don’t snow here in this town –
if it did, outdoors you’d go.
I know we love our pretty city –
but one day we all have to go.
Will I stay here with my pigeons?
We all unlearn, just to grow.
Well, you could make a shadow laugh,
& I am much in debt
to your luminous kindness
& crazy alphabet.
I know we love our pretty city –
But one day we all have to go.
Will I stay here with my pigeons?
We are heavy with what we know…
Please, please, please…
Sing me to sleep. Sing me to sleep.
David Leo Sirois was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and grew up across the border in Madawaska, Maine, the northernmost town on the East Coast. He attended Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, majoring in Literature and Languages. He has served as a staff writer for The Better Drink: A Sparkling Wine and Living Magazine, contributing poetry, essays, fiction and film reviews. His poems have also appeared in journals including Silo, Poesy, Ibbetson Street, I Left This Here For You To Read, and Echoes. He currently resides in Paris France where he hosts the open mic SpokenWord 2 – Open Secret.
Stacy Esch lives and works in West Chester, Pennsylvania, teaching English at West Chester University. Digital art and photography are the twin passions that compete alongside her interest in writing, reading, songwriting, and gardening. She has previously published works in Ibbetson Street, Turkshead Review and wordriver literary review. She has produced cover art for chapbooks by Kenneth Pobo (Save My Place and Placemats) and her artwork is featured at Spruce Alley Press, where she published a colorful 2014 Calendar as well as distinctive illustrations for the chapbook, When The Light Turns Green.