The cavalry’s here,
loud as thunder, wild and wiser,
like a nobilityÂ
of beasts—catch the lightÂ
where x marks the spotÂ
and if anyone asks,
this poem is a mapÂ
that lapses daily,
sees clearly two seadragonsÂ
spinning snout-to-snoutÂ
and pods of cetaceans
fueled by clouds
of pink crustaceans—
the shape of the Arctic
is less solid now,
fading into swathsÂ
of milky blue—
and above us, dying stars
consuming their weightÂ
in gas and dust—we’re a throbbingÂ
mass of grief and limbs
like whale food, or swollen
coastlines—do me a kindness
and repeat this worship
of humans, their book
of remembrance
a cadence of heartbeats
more than a thousandÂ
a minute, short-wingedÂ
and foraging for flowers
which bloomed much earlier.
If I could I would
gather this shimmer—
this wonder of stars,
stop the world from burning,
the seas from rising—
be the cavalry
or a reliance of stewards:
remember what it means to love you
________________
Aileen Cassinetto was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow in 2021. In 2023, she co-edited the climate change anthology, Dear Human at the Edge of Time, a companion to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, for poets to contribute to the urgent conversations on environmental justice.