Breathing Poetry

Written by Jeff Davis
He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
His blog: Natures

The poem first appeared in the Nantahala Review 2.2

The Bird Returning to Its Nest
(after a painting by George Braque)

Back. Back to the nest,
a cave, a boat
on the sea of earth,
to live in it.

Some haste to the form
of her flight,
she comes
from fields of wheat
& rose hedges
which have filled her wings' shadows.

She might have flown on
nowhere, her eyes cooling
obsidian.

She is tired, but it is more simple.
She does not arc down
for one night only.
She is given:

Like an anchor,
she does not move her wings
into this depth,

this dream
she remembers
as she returns
to the nest and three eggs
empty of everything
but the descent.

Posted with consent of the writer.