Animalia

 

It is an early spring this year. Crocuses and daffodils bloom in the chill mornings while forsythia buds swell; they are yellow flags in the warm late afternoon sun.  Bluebirds inspect their house beside the rose arbor and goldfinches empty the feeders by midafternoon.  Today a sparrow and I entered a poignant conversation between bodies.  Tentative, trusting, waiting, hoping….

 

I.

She hears a small thud

against the window.

Sparrow huddles,

breath coming fast,

blinks as the woman

bends to hold her.

 

No flutter of wings

quieter still

inside the basket.

The woman pulls

soft flannel close

steps back inside.

 

II.

Forest animals

she bows to by day

return to her

under moonlight. 

They inhabit her dreams

 

            She holds a wedding

            bouquet of living snakes

           

            Bees deposit honey

            into her lap

 

            Birdsong becomes

            elixir in a crystal vial

 

            A stag with diamond antlers

            stands in shallow creek water

 

Her house of dreams

is a living bestiary

herds, packs, flocks, schools

species, times, seasons, eons

are waves on the sea

rising, merging, rearranging

patterns of furred, finned

 feathered bodies

surfacing and receding

 

III.

When humans stood to walk

face forward, gaze level

the underside

~ belly, womb, heart ~

were exposed

vulnerable for the first time.

 

Rolling over

wolves submit

with a lowered head

tail tucked

underbelly soft and visible.

 

The woman rounds

her body, bends low

forehead on the ground

to bow bare

before the Sacred.

 

IV.

One sparrow

the weight of feathers

and a heartbeat

launches into flight

from a basket rim.

 

From my book A Litany of Wild Graces: Meditations on Sacred Ecology.  For Nature Inspirations to arrive in your inbox, scroll down to Subscribe.  And click on the Books tab to order your own copy.

 

Photo by Anastasiya Romanova on Unsplash