Citino, "Neanderthal, with Help from Cave and Bear, Invents the Flute"

In the dark cave of Slovenia,
    40,000 years of utter silence.
No one to lift this leg bone of bear.

Two finger-holes punched through
    to take the mortal breath away,
end open to let out the skein

of tones closer to human moan
    than human moan, hoot of moon
wind-honed, horned, fervid scents,

fevered puddles of bison blood, beak
    and breath of Gray Father, steam
of Mother Milk. We didn't know

Neanderthals had an ear.
    We didn't know they beatified
their dead with color. In petal,

pistil, stamen they invented
    prayer, and on the first flute
the closer-to-beastly unkin of us

worked, out of starless dark,
    the melodies of bear, and birds
lifting offat dawn. The cave

is a flute, the skull is a flute
    for wish to move through, true,
eye and nose hole waiting for

the skill to finger out our voices.
    From the bones of our parents
we tease out the music of us.

David Citino

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