Survivors

Survivors

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Forest Bird


© Steve King
All rights reserved


A forest bird lost its way
from the cool shade of its wood,
skimming across my clearing,
it glided in bright vision,
at the window where I stood—
where it saw itself to be,
finding itself, finally.

And so, inevitable:
that moment of gathered life
when unwinding fates are met,
and all futures come to pass:
griefs and gladness and regret.

Then, nothing:  it lay so still,
small beneath the window glass.
I watched from shadow within,
quiet beauty pictured so:
gone the song and stilled the flight,
as all beauty we may know;
muted accents clinging fast
to that vestige of delight.

Sweet vestige that must outlast
forest birds lost in the light.


A new poem for the Poetry Pantry
http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/

10 comments:

  1. have watched a few birds hit the glass...it is rather sad...especially in the thought that they feel they have finally found themselves...and in the end only meet death....

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  2. "that moment of gathered life when unwinding fates are met" - what a glorious line. So poignant "gone the song and stilled the flight as all beauty we may know". Beautifully written!

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  3. When the bird hit the glass. such a devastating moment.. the silence left behind is a burden indeed.. wonderful

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  4. Bjorn expressed my thoughts very well.

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  5. So sad when a bird loses it's way and meets it's final destiny. Makes my heart ache

    "gone the song and stilled the flight" a beautifully sad line..

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  6. What a tragic incident and poem. This has a very classic feel to it, in the cadence and the careful noting of detail, and the story itself--and the special irony of the hit coming at a kind of climax or false epiphany--and one wonders at all the glass walls we are aiming at in search of self-realization, or just perhaps the shine of a kind of promise of it--very well done, Steve. Thanks.

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  7. a sad tale, but how well you captured it in those words.

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  8. This is very well written, Steve, and so very sad. You wrote the experience sensitively and reflectively, in a way that really made me empathize with the little bird.

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  9. Sad, tender and beautifully written.

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