Mantis 21 (Summer 2023)
New Poetry

Aster Leonis


     Respite

The cold beam of the February sun

Shining on my face

The birds are singing around me

I feel my lungs expand as I reach

For the first breath in days

I can even discern my thoughts

And suddenly it seems like there is no war

Like everything was a nightmare

But soon the blasts will start again

The news will pour again

And this fake stillness

Will evaporate into thin air

Like did our lives from before

From which only remains a distant taste

It was only a couple of days ago

But I feel so old already

Time is relative to the will of the tyrants

And maybe tomorrow time will stop

Completely

It already has for so many

And so, I listen to the birds

I hope I will be here again tomorrow

I hope

They will be too


ASTER LEONIS is a graduate student at Stanford. They grew up in France and left at 18 to study abroad and explore the world.