Sunday, September 1, 2013

Thinking of Dead Birds (for Robert Bly)


I’ve been thinking of dead birds
On granary floors
Trapped to starvation
For lack of passage out and up,
Though light streams in
From other worlds
Like siren song.

Meanwhile, rats move
In and out as they please
Through dark holes crouching low,
Whiskers tuned to the
Frequency of shadow,
Surviving for generations
On the toil of others.

Beware, said the poet.
Loving the light too much
Is dangerous.
You may sing the virgin
And rhyme for the radiant queen;
Better to leave a morsel of meat and
A goblet of  blood-red wine
Outside the Crone’s door.

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