Swan of climbing wings,
Below
Slips by
The hour of the rhyme of time unraveling.
Raindrops.
Where now will
The footsteps of the ancient ones tread?
On the moon – the dark side?
On the mountain height?
Aloft, Hamsa – you who ride
On the mist, undeterred,
Through the red
Pillars of the sunset
Through the cliffs of darkened flight,
Do you see,
Or have you heard
Such a string of mis-imaginings?
And yet
The old one saw the donkeys
On the winding streets of Egypt
Among the catacombs and the crypt.
For a long time,
She rescued them.
Fly now to join the birds in the clouds,
Only the clouds,
Gray,
Over the medieval rooftops
Of the crags above the lost towns.
Crowds in dusted cities,
The mind gone
Astray,
In disarray,
Betrays
The darkness
And the quiet,
Until
Only the mighty wings of the sparrow
Understand
The patterns of the falling snow
And go on to a newer, older land,
Found by grace.
Become then the white crowned sparrow,
Only the sparrow
Who flies
Toward the face of the dawn,
Only the gull who rises, who cries
In gladness
Over the wintry bay,
Free,
Beyond the misted, ethereal rooftops
Crowned
In pointed hats of snow.
© Sharon St Joan, 2021
…the hour of the rhyme of time unraveling…
…the mind gone/ astray/in disarray/betrays…
Sharon, every line touches me.
I soar in the heights and swim in the depths within the wingspan of one beautiful poem.
Thank you so much, Raven!
Thank you, Raven!