A Nightingale Reaches a Crescendo

By Caroline Reddy

PROMPT—During Covid-19 ...

When our soil and soul began to fade

we trapped a nightingale in a cage.

I stood stained in remorse

forgetting about Farsi in the city.

You cried through protests

and blood soaked streets.

I mourned my true identity

beyond my duties

and a thousand Cypress trees—-

You served those who did not deserve

your baked hands

I rebelled against your code.

When you brought spirits

I created a chord and

freed ghazals from the tomb of Hafez—-

her songs carried our

voice into the stars.

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Caroline Reddy’s work has been accepted or published in Active Muse, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, Braided Way, Calliope, Clinch, Grey Sparrow, Deep Overstock, Fresh Wods Magazine, Indefinite Space, International Human Rights Arts Festival, Literary Heist, The Opiate, Quail Bell, and Star*line among others. In the Fall of 2021, her poem “A Sacred Dance” was nominated for the Best of The Net prize by Active Muse. Caroline Reddy was born in Shiraz, Iran and is currently working on a collection of poems titled "Shake the Atmosphere to Reclaim an Empty Moment." Caroline writes from New Rochelle, NY.