Thursday, May 16, 2013

My Winged Consort

life-size and maddeningly joyful -
winged consort, or a mockery of my desire?
sitting in my window, watching,
i wonder...

i wonder if you've been sent
to watch over me,
and to hold my spirits up
while i struggle with darkness.
and clash with the tautness
that is my limbs.

if you're chirping ceaselessly thus,
to offer solace
in the endless hours
while i quieten my demons.
the ones that keep slumber away
and bleak, damp anguish always at hand
breathing down my neck and choking out hope.

and i wonder if your fluttering wings
black, blue and white-flecked brown
lustrous, lively or ultimately illusory, 
flapping down, light and often -
on drying leaves and forgotten grime
are harbingers of freedom, or mere
farce - a bitter joke on this life
which weighs me down. trapping me 
in my curiously drab inability
to fly away from it all.

* * *