night vision
       

the girl fits her body in
to the space between the bed
and the wall. she is a stalk,
exhausted. she will do some
thing with this. she will
surround these bones with flesh,
she will cultivate night vision.
she will train her tongue
to lie still in her mouth and listen.
the girl slips into sleep.
her dream is red and raging.
she will remember
to build something human with it.

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Copyright © 2012 Lucille Clifton All rights reserved
from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010
BOA Editions
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission