Today’s quote for Jane Dougherty’s A Month with Yeats is from ‘The White Birds’: ‘I would that we were, my beloved, white birds on the foam of the sea!’ W.B. Yeats

Jane’s blog is: https://janedougherty.wordpress.com

My poem today is called IF ONLY

 

We are land birds,

bound birds,

we have made homes

in twisted trees

growing hallow

growing hard.

We are land birds,

ground birds,

we have been deluded

by illusions

growing careless

growing cold.

We are land birds,

drowned birds,

in a dying desert

growing doubtful

going dry.

If only

we had been sea birds,

crowned birds

in a current caressing,

wings wild

at the will of the waves,

weightless instead of weighty,

free falling

on a bed of floating foam,

flexible instead of friable.

If only…

 

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud…

https://soundcloud.com/damien-donnelly-2/if-only