Whether kind
or cruel,
helpful
or hindrance,
generous
or self-serving,
compassionate
or hard-hearted,
Whether we include
or isolate,
build bridges
or erect walls,
We experience mortality
in union
with all
creatures.
And the shadows
we cast
betray
our
actions.
— C.Birde, 2/17
Dawn arrives,
despite the wounds,
the worry.
An invitation
to renew hope,
to begin
again.
— C.Birde, 2/17
Yesterday,
it snowed —
one inch,
two,
of thick white
flakes
so softly laid.
Yet today,
the blades
of fallow grass
thrust
through.
— C.Birde, 2/17
Overhead,
wings spread to finger
updraft and lift,
they call —
And I cannot help
but try to count
the numbers
of their ragged “V”,
as if the sum
of beaks,
eyes,
wings,
feathers
would reveal answers
to mysteries
ever sought,
ever felt,
rarely
seen.
— C.Birde, 1/17
That space —
just inside
the side door —
splashed with
January light…
Enough to lure
both cat and dog
to vie for
possession
of its gradually
narrowed wedge,
its bone-filling
memory,
of warmth.
— C.Birde, 1/17
Bleary smudge of sun…
Pale
occluded eye
caught
within the
Winter sky’s
expanse
and —
blinking —
hints
at all
to come.
— C.Birde, 1/17
Vulnerable organ,
the heart…
my heart…
mosaic of Being,
bound
by slim seams
of lead,
barbed-wire,
twining vines,
and foxfire.
At once
weakened
and strengthened
by each break,
each blow,
each love,
each unexpected
tear.
— C.Birde, 1/17
I came upon them
while they linked limbs
in graceful ascension —
the Four Sisters,
patiently summoning
Winter Solstice
light.
— C.Birde, 12/16
Is it sweetest as
it fades?
When the dark,
expanded,
nips at its heels
and seals
our eyelids,
stills our tongues?
The balance slips.
Night swallows,
extends
a groping hand.
Curl and kneel
in tumbled dark,
humbled beneath
the weight
of bright memory,
the long, dark, starlit
night a stole
about bowed shoulders.
Breathe and wait.
Be Patient.
Already,
the Light
returns.
— C.Birde, 12/16
Like pale, slim blades
of sunlight,
dried Autumn grasses
stretch skyward
and bow their heads
to chilling winds.
— C.Birde, 12/16