Long-limbed
& lean,
she sits cross-legged
on gleaming
oak floor,
a vision of health
& strength
& youth,
smile measurable
in inches,
lumens,
decibels.
Between us,
a gift —
a large box,
lid & bottom
wrapped separately
in raw blue silk
& tied up
in pink satin
ribbon;
a mere tug
of angle-cut ends
required to release
& lift the lid,
to free
what lies
within.
She waits —
patient,
certain —
her smile
like sun-light
shining…
— C.Birde, 7/19
The world will
overwhelm…
Protect your heart
& dreams
& spirit —
surround your Self
in
love.
— C.Birde, 7/19
The centuries-old,
ivy-grown Vault;
that hollowed-out
hallowed
echoing
space –
once tapped,
is not easily
restocked.
Fireworks’ fanfare
and relic celebration
flash and fade.
Laurels, mislaid.
Tear away
the fallow weeds
and briars’ choke;
oil rusted hinges
to keening song.
Reopen
the Vault,
the heart,
the hand;
replace collective
ache with
love.
— C.Birde, 7/19
A triangulation
of squirrels
moon-white bellies
pressed
to cooling grass,
deliberates.
Slide-rule minds
consider
pergola
baffle
wind’s speed & direction.
Firctionless limbs
(five per each)
unaffected by
gravity
space
time.
A persistence
of squirrels
calculating
climbing
flying
empties the feeder
in ten minutes
flat.
— C.Birde, 7/19
Once…
Twice…
Thrice…
Alarm clock sounds
Song, unfamiliar
Eyes, sealed tight
Quarce…
Quince…
Sence…
Alarm clock sounds
Song, unfamiliar
Cannot open eyes
Septence…
Octence…
Novence…
The alarm clock sounds
The song, unfamiliar
Struggle to open eyes
Slide
down bed’s side
to floor
Tonce…
Alarm clock sounds,
Tune, recognized,
Eyes open
effortlessly wide –
A w a k e.
— C.Birde, 7/1
Follow me
through the garden
and
I’ll feed you
all the peanuts
my pockets
can hold.
— C.Birde, 6/19
Breached.
Those walls
built once-upon-a-time
and long ago
no longer serve.
The heart contained
within, regardless,
broke and breaks
anew each
day.
Let them fall –
bulwarks overcome,
outgrown,
torn down stone
by stone.
The tides of heartache
ebb and flow;
their patterns,
unpredictable.
Collect
the heart’s remains;
that prize,
once-hoarded.
Pluck
each broken piece
up from tumbled shadow;
jewel-like fragments –
brightly polished –
extravagantly
exposed.
— C.Birde, 6/19
Summer arrived.
She yawned and
shook off the raindrops
— those bright beads that invited slumber —
she shook them from her skirts
and ventured
out.
— C.Birde, 6/19
Each
falling drop
of rain contains
the memory
of oceans,
of forests,
stars, and
bedrock.
Messages
of past and
future delivered
to this present,
to tongue and
skin and
hair.
Despair and
hope comingled
in potential.
Each
earthly soul –
one and all –
anointed in
the breath,
the blood,
the life
of another’s —
of all others’ —
presence.
No except-
ions.
— C.Birde, 6/19
A parting kiss
— softly blown —
eases heartbreak
&
farewells.
.
.
.
— C.Birde, 6/19