AMANOGAWA
( The Milky Way )

the moon runs aground
on the silhouette
of a mountain

the many stars
swim
for their lives

the night is stifling
even his sweat
sweats

"Ga wa...ga wa!"
cries the child
his mother smiles

"Little one he cries
a river
in Japanese!"

"Gawa?"
I taste the word
bite into its syllables

the mountain slowly
lets the moon go
the word struggles

to stay alive
in my sleepy mind
already erasing it

the mother
curls around her baby
milk on its top lip

a tree now
captures the moon
in its branches

takes the Milky Way
prisoner
Amanogawa struggles

to break free
shakes a leaf
from the tree

but I do not see
for sleep too
embraces me