elegy for the red-breasted bird, rev 1 - Vilma Olsvary Ginzberg

[Larry Robinson]

elegy for the red-breasted bird, rev 1

for Robin
 
red-breasted bird
crimson song as wide as his heart
gifts of joy flying off every feather
bringer of light and promise
that dark and cold are not forever
 
to exorcise his pain
he has taken his all from us
 
to end the despair
he has bled his wounds to silence
 
hearing again the mourning-shrouded message
that something was at its end
its time was up
he thought it meant his life entire
 
all too common a mistake
 
the hand of death abides
holds the hand of life itself
they walk together yin and yang through all our days
our battles       our celebrations    our silent hours
 
we who tire of the unwelcome darkness
we who cannot imagine
coming through the next endless night
we who hear the roaring siren call of surcease
and lie in the shadows of forgetting
are easy prey for the lurking error
 
the knife is always at the ready
it can kill               or it can pare
 
behold how often do we prune the vine so it will flower
dead-head the rose to urge its blossom
run one more lap to tone the tired muscle
 
it is too late for him 
red-breast will not serenade again
but the call to die will rise in us again
the call to death is real   its urgency intense
demanding response it will not disappear     
 
but let us listen again
it is a gift   a priceless tune
and we must remember how to hear it
 
we must harken     we must seek
we must embark on the dark treasure hunt
 
until the hidden culprit is known
until what must be heard behind the siren-song is heard
until what has become burden is left behind
until that which is at its end is allowed to die
until what keeps us fettered is released
 
so that all that can still live and laugh and love in us
does remain

	- Vilma Olsvary Ginzberg 
		©  
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/poetrylovers/attachments/20140816/3438056e/attachment.html>