Saturday, August 11, 2007

A Question of Birds


The temple walls they crumble bricks
Surround me like prayers gone awry
And rice once scattered strewn on steps
Cannot attract the birds who fly

And blade their wings against the air
Their song through motion silently
In search of sweeter bread and sky
With no regard for gravity

But tied to Earth I am with questions
Born of need to know you so
My hands reach skyward for the birds
And helplessly I watch them go

And then in time a child to
A man I’ve turned and hope to find
A truth beneath it all which flows
Like love to which I have been blind

Enough years are assembled now
And sweeter things I’ve come to know
The light it falls upon the bricks
And through the cracks I start to grow

Forgiveness love and gratitude
I’ve gathered up each grain of rice
Consumed them hungrily like food
Now beats a heart once made of ice

And through my veins sweet water flows
Like love and all these things I’ve found
I’m ever closer to the birds
My feet no longer touch the ground

My heart sings pure a song heard only
By the birds who blade the air
In search of sweeter bread and sky
With questions few and love to share

by dennis tkon - copyright 2007

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

birds....keep playing around with it, I tell you there is more to mine there.

Anonymous said...

I love the last line, how we get the answers to our questions as we grow, and then, from our abundance, we are able to give it away, to share. Beautiful!

Jo said...

This has so many lovely lines, Dennis.

paisley said...

if the ending stanza sums it all up,, i feel there would be so much more serenity,, if we could just stop questioning everything.... but then as psychotherapist,, that would kind of leave you high and dry wouldn't it?????

Rambler said...

The light it falls upon the bricks
And through the cracks I start to grow

I just loved these lines.
We all should learn to grow through the little we get through cracks.

Tumblewords: said...

There are many wonderful lines in this provocative piece. Re-reading is a must!

Pauline said...

"I’m ever closer to the birds
My feet no longer touch the ground"

beautiful lines! Love will do that to you...

Anonymous said...

I agree with the comments above - so many beautiful lines in this thoughtful poem. I especially like this stanza:

"But tied to Earth I am with questions
Born of need to know you so
My hands reach skyward for the birds
And helplessly I watch them go"

gautami tripathy said...

WE humans who should know better have too many questions. Birds can teach us to let go if we only listen to them.

This speaks out to me!

Deb said...

Rice led me to distant marriage ceremonies and the poem became melancholy. I'm good with that. This is beautiful.

Crafty Green Poet said...

interesting poem, nice comparison between human and bird

Linda Jacobs said...

By the second line I was hooked! This poem is a nice gentle interweaving!