The Desert, by Matthew Murrey

Rest on the Flight Into Egypt, by Luc Olivier Merson (France). 1879.

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The Desert 

To bring a child into this
breaks a man, 
leaves him laid out 
to the mercy of the sand,
wears a woman down
until her vigilance is undone
like a soft, broken chair.
Even the sky loses 
its stars.  Even the smoke 
of a meagre fire seeks 
the thinnest line of escape.  

Every fleeing parent and child 
makes a holy family 
in this darkness where
the present hones its blades, 
where the future comes 
like a hammer for nails.
Ask the night  Will I live  
to see them grow up? 
Will the ones I love
die in peace?  It will 
answer you like a sphinx. 

Poor family.  Poor child 
born to such barren chance, 
saviour of nothing, so far. 
May you get across 
the border; may the night 
go easy on you.  Your life 
is one of many small lights.

Matthew Murrey

This poem was written in response to the surprise ekphrastic Christmas challenge.
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Matthew Murrey: "My poems have appeared in various journals such as Tar River Poetry, Poetry East, and Rattle.  I received an NEA Fellowship in Poetry a number of years ago, and my first book manuscript is seeking a publisher.  I am a high school librarian in Urbana, Illinois where I live with my partner.  We have two sons who live in the Pacific Northwest. My website is https://matthewmurrey.weebly.com/"


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