A Poem for Today

Mother Carey’s Hen

There are days I don’t think about the sea;
weeks wash by, in fact,
then a shearwater – or some such- flutters by
on the salt flats fanning out in my mind’s eye,
reflected there, a shimmering reverie,
recalling the pact

I once made (and renew today) to hold
to a higher altitude.
But note the difference between this bird
and me: a slight disruption or harsh word
and I crash, folded seaward, letting cold
life intrude;

whereas the petrel, mindless of such height,
scales each watery hill
that rises up, adapting to the shape
of each impediment, each low escape
instinct in it, the scope of its flight
fitted to its will.

David Yezzi

From:

Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds

Edited by Billy Collins
Paintings by David Allen Sibley