don’t you remember
what it was like to swim
the air,
float on open sky, alight
on branches and sing
your wild heart out
to dwell at night
in the shadow of parent wings,
the honey warmth of feather’s
nurture?
somewhere you began to give away
the shelter, your song for seed,
lost your line of sight,
stumbled along ground,
searching cover
still wet and
cold
you longed for home
as the fowler longed for you,
sought to snatch you up
in nets, pluck flight from
your naked body,
the still beating chirrup
from your throat
you forgot for a while,
didn’t you, love,
that home is refuge and shield and
still
that the fowler’s snares lie,
that a cage’s bars can hem in,
but never
hold you,
surely can’t tell you
what feathered being you are
perhaps you’re young and old enough now
to remember
the shadow of those honeyed wings
and the One who still soars most high —
who gives flight for liberty and
for song
_________
In the mood for poetry this morning? Check out some more poetic offerings here. Have a wonderful weekend, friends. I am grateful for you.
Connecting through the power of stories written, spoken and lived
Love this!
somewhere you began to give away
the shelter, your song for seed,
I’m struck silent and wanting to just sit with this gem.
Thank you dear friend…for your beautiful fight for home.
“Your beautiful fight for home” — thank you for this, Summer. I am so grateful for you.
(Oh! I so love Summer’s comment and the ways it speaks my own heart in reading this poem.)
I adore this piece Ashley! The imagery, so evocative, so tender, so utterly sadly, beautifully true. I need to read this, again and again, memorize its exquisite turns, recall it and soak (or fly) in it when needed. When we see, touch, hear a piece of art touched by Grace, we’re struck dumb, awed, shaken. For me, This is That.
Thank you dear Ash!
Thank you, mama. I so appreciate how you get my heart in this. xoxo
Oh my goodness, this. This is stunning. The imagery of the bird from nest to net to cage is disturbing, moving, poignant. You, my friend, are indeed a poet.
Goodness, friend. You inspired me so much in the writing of this. I love you, darling.