Psalm

Psalm

Faris Allahham

It lies reposed in sylvan cove; the cud
still spills from cheek, with maggots burrowed deep
in mangled maw, black tongue chewed off; eye seeps,
snout caves congealed with worms and crusty blood.

It will disintegrate, we think. Some say
it offers death for death and life for life.
The maggots and the like. Its bones for knives.
Some take them. We plant lilacs, and we pray—

The rotting fetor rises as the sun,
with rhythm, ebbs along his etchings while
the sullen earth absorbs what fell. Its bile
bursts out. We startle, and our prayer is done.

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Faris Allahham
Medical Student

Faris has been published in Sink Hollow and Laudanum Literary Review. He recently graduated from the University of Kentucky and will attend medical school this fall.

Photography by Dear Sunflower