Not looking,
I discovered.
Returning,
I searched.
And now,
I wonder
what wonders
I missed
in my
deliberate
pursuit.
— C.Birde, 6/16
Pursuit — A Poem
Tree Door — An Image
I followed that winged and scintillating procession through the wood,
careful of my distance.
While I struggled
to keep my footsteps
to myself,
they seemed to
drift over the earth,
unfettered.
When I made my way
around that ancient
tree,
they had vanished
through a door
in its trunk.
Next Solstice, I will not lose them. I will follow to that other place.
— C.Birde, 6/16
The Lavender, Unadorned — A Poem
Once,
not long ago,
the lavender hedge hummed
and trembled,
the foxgloves’ narrow,
yellow throats were lodged
with bees.
Silence, now.
Unadorned absence.
Where is the bee’s champion?
Their Rachel Carson?
When will we exchange
our short-sighted mantra
of “not-our-fault”
for “how-can-we-help”?
And,
in so doing —
in helping these small,
industrious creatures —
help
ourselves?
— C.Birde, 6/16
Foxgloves — An Image
Foxgloves —
returned to their stems
and left to dry
by the garden gate.
— C.Birde, 6/16
Light-Strewn Path — A Poem
Humble path,
strewn with disks of light
that shift illumination
underfoot,
while overhead
a wind tangles in
trees’ limbs outstretched
with leaves gilt-edged in sun.
No hearts of stone here.
No clenched fists.
Human constructs,
stripped away —
those cramped and
too-small boxes,
all those restrictive,
reductive
labels.
Here,
there is just
wind and song;
life,
and green-gold
light.
— C.Birde, 6/16
Honeysuckle — Images
This honeysuckled air…
sweet enough to sip,
to draw that ethereal fragrance
— like a warmth —
over the tongue.
— C.Birde, 6/16
Orphan — A Poem
The air vibrates,
crackles with alarm,
with a dozen voices lifted.
The sky churns,
a-roil with frantic motion,
with wings that beat —
blue, red, brown, gray —
and claws that flex;
with beaks
that jab and split and scream.
The storm
of this haphazard flock,
focused on a soot-winged marauder.
Adorned in ebony,
he cowers beneath their blows,
beneath the arc and unrelenting descent
of their contempt.
Then, with a sullen croak of “uncle”,
he lifts from the roof’s peak,
spreads shadow wings
and flees.
All is still.
Peace returns.
The makeshift flock disperses.
Later,
tucked within the hedge,
spot-breasted and unfledged,
plucked or dropped or wrested
from the nest,
we find young Robin —
unwitting participant,
and silent witness
to all.
— C.Birde, 6/16
After the Dance — Images
The Moon wanes,
and the sprites have hung their dancing slippers
from the arch of Solomon’s Seal,
their moon-washed gowns and jackets
from the Bleeding Heart.
— C.Birde, 5/16
Ferns — An Image
To look at ferns…is to look back through time.
— C.Birde, 5/16
Unsolicited Advice — A Poem
I went to the woods
to read aloud
the lichen on the stones
and
the braille-bark trees;
to translate the wildflowers’
bright phrases
and
avian patterns purled
upon the air;
and
I heard,
marked by the arcs
of Sun and Moon and Stars,
Time’s Tale —
coveted, measured,
sought, and spent.
Go. Now.
Don’t wait.
Translate
the curled and tangled rootworks,
the twist of grasses,
and branches’ interweave.
Cup your ear to the Earth’s
loamy breast
and feel its steady beat
thrum through soil and stone.
Press your lips to the sky’s
expanse of wide open blue.
Reacquaint yourself.
Restore yourself.
Heal yourself.
Now.
Go.
— C.Birde, 5/16
