Thursday, August 4, 2016

The First Song



Small Bird,
you carry my message 
to the spirit world
on your feathery wings.
You embody my longing
for freedom, for flight,
for Seeing Below
and Rising Above.

Your song sings
in my heart,
of hope and sunshine,
 trees and Beauty.

Long ago,
Bird Woman,
dressed in skins and pelts,
sat by the fire,
looking up at the stars,
feeling a longing she
had not language for.

Beside her, her wolf-pup
raised his muzzle to the sky,
howling mournfully.

She began to thump,
hand against knee,
the beat growing
in rhythm and intensity,
until she, too,
tilted her head far back,
making guttural, keening sounds
in her throat,
that had no interpretation,
but described her longing
perfectly.

The first song.


A revised and expanded version of a poem from 2014, for Stacie's prompt at Real Toads: Voices, Spaces and Songbirds


14 comments:

  1. I love this! And especially:
    "You embody my longing
    for freedom, for flight,
    for Seeing Below
    and Rising Above."
    I feel it in Bird Woman's voice!

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  2. Magical.Two voices in one

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  3. Visually perfect, Sherry, and a song from the heart.

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  4. This is visceral and so pure

    Much love...

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  5. A very vivid piece, a poem that feels almost like a screen play as I can see your images so clearly. K

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  6. I love to think of that Bird Woman communing with the stars and nature - a part of the whole.

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  7. Thank you for sharing this, Sherry - I can picture her by the fire, underneath the stars, her wolf companion stirring her into song. Love how you made the rhythm grow, and left the lyrics a mystery, only understood by the singers - and possibly, the stars above.

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  8. I can see this, feel this, so clearly. Beautiful.

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  9. ah...the last stanza's so intense...Bird Woman...beautiful...

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  10. Gah...your closing sent chills...yes, this is just how it was...I love this, Sherry!!

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  11. Sherry my response to Stacie's prompt is late, you can read it here

    much love...

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