by Constance Stadler
Tall cedars
emanate earthen aromas
with musky incense
cinnamon and mint.
A solitary oud
plucked by
ornamented fingers
sings a sad
uncertain song
to the scarlet dying sun.
The calm opacity
of old Lebanon
burns red
with fire
as dark eyes
Cry
behind silken veils
The olive tree burns black.
Constance Stadler is the author and co-author of eight compilations of poetry and has published more than 200 poems magazines and journals. She was awarded honors in the International Erbacce Prize competition for her collection Sublunary Curse. Constance dates the beginning of her relationship with poetry to early teenage years, when she was given a volume of the Collected Works of Dylan Thomas which still sits, dog-eared, on her bookshelf.