for Yumna Kassab

As the bridge appears the train changes its music
Hollow and open like a drum
Every sentence curves to amplify itself the way blue
                springs over and we say ‘sky’
On mornings when I cross the bridge
My eyes flick up and I look for shorebirds along
                the river’s western edge
Often it’s crows
Elevating me with their sturdy sociability
Once a great egret in aquaplane
Today I see circles where something dives
What if we filled a jar with soil at each riverside
                tree where a body has fallen
Crossing the river I look for shorebirds
Under tilted casuarinas
Along the river’s western edge
Shorebirds and stories of earth in jars