Monday, March 30, 2020

The Song We Are Meant to Sing

Raven by Pennybright Studios


Today, as an unfamiliar world
- difficult, astonishing, unbelievable, frightening -
unfolded itself outside my window,
I heard a crow make a warble
I have never before heard
from a bird.

I wondered what new kind of crow
she was striving to be, what new song
she was trying out,
what its message might be.

Perhaps she is imploring us to stop repeating
the same old tired droning familiar song,
to have the strength to try out one
so new and unthinkable
it gives us massive fear and goosebumps.

Then we will know it is exactly
the song we are meant to sing.

Sing out, my friends.
It is a time for new songs,
new ways of being on the planet
and with each other.
Time to sing forth
a better day.


for my prompt at earthweal.  Trying to hold out hope for the other side of this disaster. But there is much suffering between here and there, for everyone, everywhere.


7 comments:

  1. We have to keep holding out hope for the other side of this disaster, Sherry. I’m sure the end is not too far away. Sadly, the ‘suffering between here and there’ is omnipresent, and we can’t unsee or unlive it. The introduction of the crow is magical, and I love the lines:
    ‘Perhaps she is imploring us to stop repeating
    the same old tired droning familiar song,
    to have the strength to try out one
    so new and unthinkable’ –

    just like our ancestors and all those disasters that happened before us, when they had to start all over again.
    I also love the encouragement in the final stanza.

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  2. Listen carefully .... I am shouting out my song to you, for you, for all.

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  3. Those humans, they just don't get it ... My cats are genuinely disturbed that I'm such a dummy when it comes to getting what they are trying to say with every physical gesture. And we're the masters ... ha. What a fun poem, Sherry. And right on. -Brendan

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  4. Yesterday I awoke to bird song. It sounded new because it's spring and the robins are back.

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  5. "...to have the strength to try out one
    so new and unthinkable
    it gives us massive fear and goosebumps."
    . . . and singing it, we change the world. You lead and I will follow. Thank you and your raven.

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  6. I hope the crows new sound is symbolic of the world's new way of being. Lovely poem Sherry. I like how you listen to nature's messages.

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