Three winter poems
White Eyes ~ Mary Oliver
In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind bird
with it white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us
he wants to go to sleep,
but he is restless --
he has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake.
But his big, round musi, after all,
is too breathy to last.
So, its over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest
he's done all he can.
I don't know the name of this bird,
I only imagine his glittering beak
tucked in a white wing
while the clouds -
which he has summoned
from the north -
which he has taught
to be mild, and silent -
thicken, and begin to fall
into the world below
like stars, or the feathers
of some unimaginable bird
that loves us,
that is asleep now, and silent
that has turned itself
into snow.
Mary Jane Oliver was an american poet inspired by nature (1935 - 2019)
Midwinter ~ Drew Dellinger
when midwinter sunrise shines down the passage tomb
how can we not dance?
how can we not live again? when the breathing light of the nearest star
illuminates the bowl of bones how can we not dance?
sing our dead
across the river of souls come into the consciousness of clouds come into the consciousness of megalithic structures
the frequency of the flickering flame the blushing sky the naked night
the psychedelic stars
taste communion
the substance of the universe
this is my body
the consciousness of galaxies
this is my blood when the living god
that is the sky
makes elaborate patterns kiss and the stars show their fiery wings
how can we not dance?
how can we not live again?
Drew Dellinger is an internationally known writer & poet focusing on ecology, social justice, cosmology, social change and transformation
To Know the Dark ~ Wendell Berry
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
Poet, novelist, farmer and environmentalist Wendell Berry lives in Kentucky