"Through A Glass Darkly" (inspired by Jim)
A thousand blackbirds in a November field
Are worth one picture, each of them saying
The one word they know, some old saying
Seeming almost familiar but not quite right,
Composed despite no frame of reference now,
The cropped expanse of corn chaff and dust
Going on forever, but distance without depth,
The two dimensions of the field and the birds.
At some unspoken signal they all lift a little
In a single gesture, somehow both frantic
And posed, not flying but paused on the edge
Of as far as you can come, folding and falling
Into this scene fading to black, the old story
Of your life, unable to rise above it, the air
Become unbearably heavy, the weight of their
One shadow more than you or they can bear.
Poetry by countryfog
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Written on 2012-11-20 at 16:58
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