Rabbit-Dead Rabbit

Clearstories

24.5×24 in

Archival Inkjet Print

2020

$1,750/set unframed

Dead Rabbit by Naila Moreira

El-ahrairah would be proud.
Ghost-rabbit, you have conquered
the underworld, linings of your ears
shining, your eyes sockets,
paws still leaping, sure as a hunting-dog,
each rib straining. You are ready
to draw the chariot of the dead.

On All-Hallows the sod
remembers beings like you
who crept to trade their ears, their tail,
into the fearsome den of the god.
Over you death’s jurisdiction falters:
the fear with which you tremble
is a trick, your bound the truth.

Meek as the lamb, crafty as the lion,
nibbling the silences between twigs,
you stalk the Reaper’s dark forest.
Thief of all that grows
you cheat consequence,
your scat nourishes seedlings,
you steal time, shepherd it under soil.

When it calls for me I hope it looks
like you, glimmering as the dusk falls.