Her eyes, red - 

Heavy, puffed, barely open

Fear silencing the cry, waiting

Arms wrapped around her daughter

Tightly pulling her back into her body

Behind locked fingers 

Covered with a blanket

Her face, soaked in fear 

Mirroring her mother, confused

Whiffs of candle smoke snaking in the air

Moonlight through small windows

Tracing silhouettes, petrified in dread.

Hoofs trotting outside her home

A snaring beast, scraping the ground, 

Neither seen nor heard before

Clanking of metal and chains - haunting

A putrid stench of a bearded giant 

On this animal with smoking nostrils

Shouting in a tongue unknown 

Wielding a flickering staff in his grip

Shadows move in frenzy

Under the shining moon.

This is not Coqui Bezelao 

This is not Copijcha 

What did we miss in the prayers?

Who did we anger?

Where are our ancestors?

Why are they silent, watching?

In that dread, 

The world that once brought meaning

Had already been uprooted

Lost forever for her people.