<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><h1 class=""><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">The Song of the Lark</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">The song begins and the eyes are lifted</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">but the sickle points toward the ground</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">its downward curve forgotten in the song she hears</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">while over the dark wood, rising or falling</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">the sun lifts on cool air</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">the small body of a singing lark.</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">The song falls, the eyes raise, the mouth opens</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">and her bare feet on the earth have stopped.</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">Whoever listens in this silence, as she listens</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">will also stand opened, thoughtless, frightened</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">by the joy she feels, the pathway in the field</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">branching to a hundred more, no one has explored.</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">What is called in her rises from the ground</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">and is found in her body,</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">what she is given is secret even from her.</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">This silence is the seed in her</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">of everything she is</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">and falling through her body</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">to the ground from which she comes</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">it finds a hidden place to grow</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">and rises, and flowers, in old wild places</font></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4">where the dark-edged sickle cannot go.</font></span></div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> </font></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; widows: 1;"><span class="s1"><font size="4"> - David Whyte</font></span></div></h1></div></body></html>