2010:
The Crows Fly West
As I stand and watch the approaching sunrise I see them, tiny spots on the horizon against the cold grey dawn of morning, scattered, here and there, 1, 3, 2, one here, one there, to the left, and right.
Closer now they approach, low, quite, the wings of troubled souls they bare, struggling against the pull of the earth, the east wind pushing them back laughing as it swirls through the darkness, but onward the push, flying west, why, I wonder, as they pass, they see me, they see everything, but seem disinterested in anything, they fly with purpose.
What drives them, I wonder. They appear again, here, there, their tiny little dots of black feathers approaching as the light of dawn silhouettes their shapes, I am their general standing on his podium, watching my squadron of bombers leaving for a mission, gathering to form their patterns in the cold unforgiving sky, do they know?
1, 7, 3, 12, 4, 2, 1, again, so many, so many, they are not lost, they know. Creatures of nature, does She call to them, has their leader abandon them, or his he in amongst them, what they seek is a mystery, not to them, they know, they do not wait, group they don't, cold, they come,1, 2, 1, 4, 5, 1, 3, they come, they fly.
Silent on the wings, can I go? Zombie like they look, with purpose, just fly, pushing against the forces that would bring them down. Almost gone now they are, to return. The crows fly west, their shadows not far behind, the sun comes, slicing it's scarlet rays before it, chasing those who linger, nature's creatures they are, She calls to them, the souls of forgotten dreams, and The Crows Fly West.
me 1/15/10
1970:"PICNIC"
Breathless, we flung ourselves on the windy hill,
Laughed in the sun and kissed in the lovely grass.
you said, "Through glory and ecstasy we pass;
wind, sun, and earth remain, the birds sing still,
When we are old, And we die
All is over that is ours; and life burns on.
Through other lovers — other lips", said I.
"Heart of my heart, now our heaven is won!"
"We are earth's best, that learned her lesson here.
Life is our cry, we have kept the faith!" we said;
"We shall go down with unreluctant tread,
Rose-crowned into the darkness!" —
Proud we were – and laughing, that we had such brave, true
things to say—
And then you suddenly cried—
And turned away.
me MCMLXX
