Sasha Dugdale: Dawn Chorus

Every morning since the time changed
I have woken to the dawn chorus
And even before it sounded, I dreamed of it
Loud, unbelievably loud, shameless, raucous

And once I rose and twitched the curtains apart
Expecting the birds to be pressing in fright
Against the pane like passengers
But the garden was empty and it was night

Not a slither of light at the horizon
Still the birds were bawling through the mists
Terrible, invisible
A million small evangelists

How they sing: as if each had pecked up a smoldering coal
Their throats singed and swollen with song
In dissonance as befits the dark world
Where only travelers and the sleepless belong

Dated “March 29, 2010”. The poet was living in Moscow and that was the date of a terrorist bombing on the Moscow metro during the morning commuter rush - which fact gives the poem new layers of onrushing meaning (and almost terror). The doggerel rhymes become desperate and sinister, the images gain a pre-nightmarish quality. A remarkable poem from something unspeakable.