Delta Lullaby

Let me hide you in the country
away from the mosquito whine
of work and want. I will replace
traffic tide with cricket song.
Let me wrap you in a blanket
of kudzu and trumpet vine,
swaddle you in pulled bolls of cotton.
I know the many names and shapes
of poison plants and will distill
their breath into a lethal perfume
for your monsters. I will rock and croon
No harm will come. Gaze with me
into a waterfall of fading light.
You see how distance fades,
how everything is close and vanished,
near and away? Let the blueing light
lie like moth dust on your eyes.
The dusk is a quilt of bluebird wings.
There is no need to hide. Hush, now.
From a hollow I will watch
you crack your carapace and walk
into the safe and sober day.