Under the Waterfall, by Hedy Habra

The Lake, the Sleeping Water by Léon Frédéric (Belgium) 1898

Under the Waterfall
                        
It all began on a Summer solstice dawn: the sun disappeared in a
fiery sky of molten marigolds and blood flowers tainting misty
waterfalls all the way to the swan cove. And the startled swans
wandered around mounds of featherless flesh lying pell-mell,
sleeping forms with sparse down crowning their heads, a burnt
umber field of sepia limbs sprouting from broken shells, their
strange, acrid smell terrified them: flapping their immaculate wings,
they kept bathing in the purifying waters, came back to the inert
bodies in maddened circles biting their own tails amidst the dormant
newborns: had they heard of Andersen’s tales they’d wonder why
they were all cursed at once with ugly little ducklings, unaware they
were witnessing the origin of the human race.

Hedy Habra

This poem was first published by Diode. It appeared in Hedy Habra's collection, Under Brushstrokes (Press 53 2015).

Hedy Habra's latest poetry collection, Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? won the 2024 International Poetry Book Award and was a Finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award; The Taste of the Earth, won the Silver Nautilus Book Award and Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Award; Tea in Heliopolis won the Best Poetry Book Award and Under Brushstrokes was a finalist for the International Poetry Book Award. Her story collection, Flying Carpets, won the Arab American Book Award’s Honorable Mention and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Her book of criticism is Mundos alternos y artísticos en Vargas Llosa, She is a twenty-five-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. https://www.hedyhabra.com/
 
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