Shamans of Atlantis

Shamans of Atlantis knew the secret
of night kites. They cut shapes
from stiff parchment and painted
cryptic symbols along the edges
with red paint. On summer nights
when the crickets were loudest,
they carried the kites to a grassy plain,
followed by throngs of Atlanteans
anxious to witness the phenomenon.
On a nod from the High Shaman,
the kites, unleashed, rose like
a flock of odd-shaped magical birds
powered only by moon glow.

The shamans never revealed
the secret of night kites to the people
just as they never told them
the ultimate fate of their island —
the shifting tectonic plates,
the crashing waves — a prophecy
passed to the shamans by a crystal
quartz skull that spoke to them
in the hidden dialect of the stars.