Dark Dreaming

She’d always loved to watch the birds
as they swooped and swerved
in the sky above her.
She could see them now
from the mouth of the cave,
black birds,
rooks or ravens,
corvids as dark as the cave.

They were invisible as she went deeper
so she could only see them
when she dreamt.

And she wondered 
if  dreams would be enough
to sustain her
in the dark.

She wondered 
if they would be enough for her
when the black water rose.
and the river flowed in.

https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-challenges/gustave-courbet-ekphrastic-responses