Poem: "To be brief"

To be brief—

when I entered the grotto
to find the Buddha
                               carved from the living wall of the cave,

I wasn’t expecting the bats
                                           hundreds of furry pulses
agitating the air
                  with more than blood.

          In the fearful disorder,
                                           image, wing, shadow,

I stumbled out,
                  my face
                              flittering still with near misses.

         They did not fly
into each other
                                           either.

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