More than swallows, you are
summer, coming May
burnished black by the sun
you spent all winter circling
or basking in across
Sahara sands.
Metaphor for free
you swoop, soar, swirl,
sharp joy in my heart as I
watch you roller-coast the sky,
sublime as operatic arias.
Summer end you flee
back to warmer lands, the sun.
Winter-long I see
memories of your shape
on colder skies,
your absence sharp
like ice.
Swifts are my favourite birds! They've been back for a week now so I've reposted this poem, which first appeared way back in the days no-one read this blog!
exquisitely breathtaking poetic journey in the imagery with a perfectly apt swooping ending sharp enough to stab the heart. beautiful.
ReplyDeletethanks for dropping by my site, afterglow and leaving your kind words.
I'm glad you reposted. I long to join their flight and gaze through their lens. Thanks for helping me find that sight.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if we have them here. The Indigo Buntings just passed through. I felt like I was being blessed by the blue birds of happiness!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be looking up now.
Hi Crafty! Very, very nice. I can totally see the swifts as they "swoop, soar, swirl" and "roller- coaster the sky". And the line "more than swallows, you are summer" is so rich -- I love it.
ReplyDeletehow lovely to read this, so captures them. they're my favourites too, i must say. as spring starts each year i long for the morning i will wake up to hear their strange call outside. bliss! sometimes they make nests in our attic, in fact we tried rearing an abandoned baby one last year. sometimes they come down our chimney too and start flying around the kitchen in confusion - honest! and so we have to pick them from the net curtain and let them out. i really do love them. thanks for the poetic reminder!
ReplyDeleterax, matthew - thanks!
ReplyDeletecolleen - the indigo buntings sound wonderful - we definitely don't get those here!
Clare - thanks!
na - oh gosh, swifts flying round
your kitchen! I'm glad you love them too!
Your poem transported me. I felt I was sharing the sky with the swifts.
ReplyDeleteHi Crafty,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to email you this, but I couldn't find a link on your blog.
Though I did find a link to your poetry magazine, and as soon as I am done with this I am off to explore that.
I've opened a group over at Yahoo for women bloggers, and I hope you'll check it out.
Here's the address:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/shewhoblogs/
Wishing you the best possible weekend.
Frances
sublime as operatic arias
ReplyDeleteNow that is a flight to silence gravity. ^_^
From the word "summer" up to the end: exhilarating read.
Cheers.
I liked this poem a lot. I don't think we get swifts on the west coast of Canada, but I can definately visualize them through your words. Birds have been on my mind a lot lately, and I've been meaning to blog some thoughts about the disappearance of songbirds(soon, I hope). (Thanks for your comment re. my button post, by the way.)
ReplyDeleteLovely poem, perfectly pitched, and the last line, my heart felt it.
ReplyDelete