Thursday, March 29, 2012

one dream displaces another

a harder truth

5 perfect eggs lie cushioned in a pine-needled nest,
the pure blue of their shells
matching the feathers of the father,












the oaks, too, reach for tomorrow
with innumerable grains of pollen
matured and sent forth,
just as their leaves begin to emerge,













large bees bumble to the blueberry blossoms,













each hickory sapling opens its buds
as if a magician who reveals a perfect surprise,

a cherry tree erupts in white blossom
as if to dare the frost,
while nearby cousins take their time
to risk it and flower,












in the garden the asparagus stirs in its bed
stands up and slowly stretches its arms wide,












green onion, buttercrunch lettuce, & sugar snap pea
race with the weeds to be first to demand my attention,













12 young tomatoes, started inside from seed 6 weeks ago,
find their way into the ground in the morning,












the day feels of hope,
of reach after reach toward the future,
toward being remembered,

in my hope, my optimism,
I look again into the bluebird house
to reassure myself with those 5 perfect eggs,
and they aren’t there,
and I don’t know why:
the idyllic march from mating, to nesting, to laying, to little ones,
to the beauty of adult after adult flashing through the air--all aborted,

I’d snake-proofed the bluebird house because last year
a black snake met its needs by denying the bluebirds theirs,
I searched for signs to tell me what happened,

it seems another bird’s dreams of being remembered
led them to destroy the bluebirds’ dreams,

the kid in me, and the parent of the kid,
doesn’t want to hear this lesson:
each of us, who will be here tomorrow,
lives by denying that tomorrow to what we eat today,

one bird displaces another,

maybe that’s why so many of us love sports so much,
for there the joy of the one is built upon the loss of the many,
and sports reminds us of a truth humans can try to forget,
a truth the bluebird parents live today.

by Henry H. Walker
March 27, ’12

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