Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lifting Up




LIFTING UP

Today I saw for myself
What I had heard
Of the brotherhood of geese --
How from a perfect V, the leader
Cedes his place to the ones who fly behind.
As I watched, the line opened again and again
Like arms of graceful dancers
Going slowly up and down,
Swan Lake in flesh and air.
But what I saw, really,
Was the connectedness of things --
How arms are made for holding out,
For lifting up, for helping others fly,
How this is simply known and shared
And shown without decree or rule or word,
How I can gain such wisdom
From gazing at the morning sky
And witnessing the beauty of the birds.

6 comments:

  1. Karen, I am glad you keep this work up. I think you have improved, don't you? I know I have. I read recently that if you stick with a craft for around 10,000 hours of effort and practice you will become a master. The trick is to find whatever it is in the world that you can still love dynamically after all that effort.

    Alligator Country

    We are made for lines.
    We draw them or we cross them.
    We place stuff inside
    or out. We will be
    in-laws or out, depending
    on the stripes laid down
    razor eyed or lame
    brained as we may have become,
    hardtop crusts on swamp.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something so simple can become so meaningful, so easily.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very meaningful poetry . And yes , it surely is a marvelous sight to watch when they make that V formation .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very lovely, indeed. Great description of finding our abstract "human" concepts in nature. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You capture those moments, in the zone, when we are able to see and feel and write from the images the natural world sends us to open our hearts. This is what I wanted to read tonight. You are a fabulous writer.

    ReplyDelete