often there is only me here
now
and one place mat
where there used to be several
but birds still sing in the
high hedgerow
at dusk
when service is over
Tag: birdsong
Ithaca 4
Birds play ocarinas on the roof
as I lay here and bargain with the truth,
on my island in the dazzling blue,
crickets doing whatever it is they do.
Ulysses once stood upon this shore
and tried to rouse his mariners once more,
there were no sailors left to raise a sail,
warriors grown thin and worn and pale.
Truth must have its way from time to time
and bludgeon you discreetly from behind,
I’ll deal the way I’ve always dealt with truth
while birds play ocarinas on the roof.
woodpile
a stack of logs
lying by the hearth
silver birch
elder
beech
larch
everything returns
into the earth
larch
beech
elder
silver birch
and the blackbird’s song
that lingers on
from the woodpile
and knows no hurt
like human hurts
by the woodpile
