And the last of the bat poems is called "To Hope,"
and it's dedicated to Christian Peacemaker
teams and the Langley Hill Friends Meeting.
My family and I have been part of the Quaker community
for about seven or eight years now,
and there had been a Quaker fellow
who had been mentioned in the meetings we had been attending
named Tom Fox, who was working with Christian peacemaker
teams in Iraq and had disappeared.
And this was three or four years ago,
and I happened to be in Austin, Texas
at another writers gathering where some of the writers here
among us were also there as well and had
seen the bats referenced in this poem in Austin.
"To Hope."
As though sunlight couldn't kill you.
As though sex couldn't kill you.
As though books had never been covered with human skin.
As though otters thrive in the Tigris
As though peace lay dormant in marsh mud.
As though Tom Fox were made of clay and could be remade.
If drought therefore taproot.
If cracked bridge therefore bat roost.
Pups by June.
If communion therefore Last Supper.
If lasting hunger then nightly flights.
Half a million Mexican free tail bats flew East above the river,
spiraling out as though they'd never eaten.