Leaves of sunlight

 

Recall

 

The snows,

 

The kestrel’s clear

 

Crystal

 

Eye

 

Watches

 

Watches

 

Intent,

 

Upon

 

The dark

 

Fairy

 

Of fear,

 

Of the illuminated lie,

 

Who holds the sooted

 

Mirror of

 

Bitter curses,

 

Who corrupts the world,

 

And fragments the tides

 

Of the storm-curled sea.

 

Soon,

 

On a wind-worn winter

 

Day,

 

The kestrel

 

Will

 

Unloose

 

And free

 

The spark,

 

Held pent

 

Up in the degradations

 

Of eons

 

Firegleams

 

To wing their way

 

Back to the ancient

 

Sky

 

Of rainbows

 

Where,

 

Before all

 

Things began, the gray goose,

 

Mother of the moon,

 

Walked with the dawn-footed

 

Deer

 

And the great

 

Bear

 

Along the mist-bright

 

Riverbank of dreams.

 

Watching ever,

 

The kestrel bides

 

Many

 

A time, in wait

 

In the silent

 

Sunlit

 

Silver snows

 

That fall

 

And fall.

 

Written around 2003

Photo: sannse / Wikimedia Commons / This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. / A male Common Kestrel in England.