sing so hard that the bush quakes.
Vultures spend a glad afternoon
amid new mown fields and hay bales.
Those feathers caught up too soon
don't bode well for flight,
and grief is a found object.
My grandmother said,
My grandmother said,
a bird flying into your house
means a death in the family.
Michael Hannon writes:
happiness won't come easily.
You have to fight for it
every step of the way.
I am a seasoned fighter.
But the lesson of impermanence
is merely impermanence.
Every atom weeping into a folded wing
and 100,000 corpses dance on a pin.
The poet's job is to bring the news
of the unspeakable into the world.
13 July 1995
rev. slightly 17 Nov 2015
