Draft 2 - O Martyr

[dukealien]

O Martyr  interpreting the title is going to be important

I know why the wind is without birdsong
and mothers humming
infants to milk-drunken sleep.  first sentence:  takes a moment to parse into two absences
I have seen enough, how it could all end
in an instant, or an instant's
aftermath. My voice forms words  second sentence:  narrator has seen death, maybe violence
you cannot hear; I'm scared that
I’m too far away to know their gravity, or  weight of the speaker's words; why not end line with "gravity?"
the pull of home beneath my feet.
Though in your heart I've hid  addressing wind, martyr, or some other person?
this sadness, an unflinching pact
to earth that I'd return to see
through your garb of existence
and struggle, its memory is faded. Then,  Sentence ending here:  seems to be the martyr
I was not sure I hid anything at all.  Speaker's own existence questioned
Whoever it was I was, I am  But now existence affirmed, 
called by light to bloom
and how these roots run deep.  and with purpose

In moderate critique, I must first confess that I get an odd sense here of Ali, the first Shi'ite imam.  Very odd, since I know absolutely nothing about the denomination beyond the twenty-word history Westerners get on the person and event, if that.

The title suggests, to me, that this is in the nature of a prayer addressing a specific (deceased or occluded) person, expressing the speaker's inner uncertainty and a degree of desolation.  Somewhat the way a Catholic addresses mercy in the wounded heart of Mary.

So.  There are referents here  I'm not catching, but the theme of finding purpose in emptiness is satisfying.  To step out on a very small twig, the mention of "light" and "roots" could even suggest (in a Persian context) pre-Islamic religion rising again into the devastated void.

I have only the one small suggestion, breaking the line at the comma,  making

I’m too far away to know their gravity
or the pull of home beneath my feet

placing the heavy word "gravity" at focus of the line.

Beyond that, all I can say its that the poem is beautifully worded and paced -  errors in interpretation are mine alone!