On A Cape May Warbler Who Flew Against My Window
She’s stopped in her southern tracks
Brought haply to this hard knock
When she shoots from the tall spruce
And snaps her neck on the glass.
From the fall grass I gather her
And give her to my silent children
Who give her a decent burial
Under the dogwood in the garden.
They lay their gifs in the grave:
Matches, a clothes-peg, a coin;
Fire paper for her, sprinkle her
With water, fold earth over her.
She is out of her element forever
Who was air’s high-spirited daughter;
What guardian wings can I conjure
Over my own young, their migrations?
The children retreat indoors.
Shadows flicker in the tall spruce.
Small birds flicker like shadows
Ghosts come nest in my branches.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Related poetry:
- Cape Breton Out on the high “bird islands,” Ciboux and Hertford, The razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all stand With their […]...
- Boy at the Window Seeing the snowman standing all alone In dusk and cold is more than he can bear. The small boy weeps […]...
- At a Window Give me hunger, O you gods that sit and give The world its orders. Give me hunger, pain and want, […]...
- At leisure is the Soul At leisure is the Soul That gets a Staggering Blow The Width of Life before it spreads Without a thing […]...
- Song by the Window Before Bed Little Star, little Star, Come down quick. The Moon is a bogey-man; He’ll eat you certain if he can. Little […]...
- Frolic THE CHILDREN were shouting together And racing along the sands, A glimmer of dancing shadows, A dovelike flutter of hands. […]...
- The House Of Dust: Part 01: 02: One, from his high bright window in a tower One, from his high bright window in a tower, Leans out, as evening falls, And sees the advancing curtain of […]...
- Learning by Doing They’re taking down a tree at the front door, The power saw is snarling at some nerves, Whining at others. […]...
- 16-bit Intel 8088 chip with an Apple Macintosh You can’t run Radio Shack programs In its disc drive. Nor can a Commodore 64 Drive […]...
- THE OLD CLOCK ON THE STAIRS L’eternite est une pendule, dont le balancier dit et redit sans Cesse ces deux mots seulement dans le silence des […]...
- One Inch Tall If you were only one inch tall, you’d ride a worm to school. The teardrop of a crying ant would […]...
- Adam Pos'd Cou’d our First Father, at his toilsome Plough, Thorns in his Path, and Labour on his Brow, Cloath’d only in […]...
- At the Window I have not always had this certainty, this pessimism which reassures the best among us. There was A time when […]...
- It Is March It is March and black dust falls out of the books Soon I will be gone The tall spirit who […]...
- 'Tis my first night beneath the Sun ‘Tis my first night beneath the Sun If I should spend it here Above him is too low a height […]...
- The Window She looks out in the blue morning And sees a whole wonderful world She looks out in the morning And […]...
- Unlyric Love Song It is time to give that-of-myself which I could not at first: To offer you now at last my least […]...
- A Strange Gentlewoman Passing By His Window As I out of a casement sent Mine eyes as wand’ring as my thought, Upon no certayne object bent, But […]...
- Verses on Sir Joshua Reynold’s Painted Window at New College, Oxford Ah, stay thy treacherous hand, forbear to trace Those faultless forms of elegance and grace! Ah, cease to spread the […]...
- At The Window Every morning, as I walk down From my dreary lodgings, toward the town, I see at a window, near the […]...
- Momus Momus is the name men give your face, The brag of its tone, like a long low steamboat whistle Finding […]...
- Spicewood The spicewood burns along the gray, spent sky, In moist unchimneyed places, in a wind, That whips it all before, […]...
- I see around me tombstones grey I see around me tombstones grey Stretching their shadows far away. Beneath the turf my footsteps tread Lie low and […]...
- Child The young child, Christ, is straight and wise And asks questions of the old men, questions Found under running water […]...
- Colors Passing Through Us Purple as tulips in May, mauve Into lush velvet, purple As the stain blackberries leave On the lips, on the […]...
- The Skies Ay! gloriously thou standest there, Beautiful, boundless firmament! That swelling wide o’er earth and air, And round the horizon bent, […]...
- Pensive on Her Dead Gazing, I Heard the Mother of All PENSIVE, on her dead gazing, I heard the Mother of All, Desperate, on the torn bodies, on the forms covering […]...
- Submergence When along the pavement, Palpitating flames of life, People flicker round me, I forget my bereavement, The gap in the […]...
- I Sit By The Window I said fate plays a game without a score, And who needs fish if you’ve got caviar? The triumph of […]...
- At the Window The pine-trees bend to listen to the autumn wind as it mutters Something which sets the black poplars ashake with […]...
- Man in a Window I don’t know man trust is a precious thing A kind of humility Offer it to a snake and get […]...
- The Window In the sweet, Atlantic Breathing of spring My curtain’s like a butterfly, Huge, fluttering Like a Hindu widow To a […]...
- Window I looked out the window at dawn and saw a young apple tree Translucent in brightness. And when I looked […]...
- This Window is This window is confidence, Documenting proceedings, Capturing moments, Cleansing views Challenging sentiment. This window is nourishment Filling the eyes With […]...
- The Window All night long, by a distant bell, The passing hours were notched On the dark, while her breathing rose and […]...
- Long Time I Lay In Little Ease LONG TIME I LAY IN LITTLE EASE LONG time I lay in little ease Where, placed by the Turanian, Marseilles, […]...
- The Bed By The Window I chose the bed downstairs by the sea-window for a good death-bed When we built the house, it is ready […]...
- They called me to the Window, for They called me to the Window, for ” ‘Twas Sunset” Some one said I only saw a Sapphire Farm And […]...
- Bells Of Gray Crystal Bells of gray crystal Break on each bough The swans’ breath will mist all The cold airs now. Like tall […]...
- Out Of The Watercolored Window, When You Look When from the watercolored window idly you look Each is but and clear to see, not steep: So does the […]...