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Two Poems: Twice I Saw a Bird, (After Snow Fall)...and...Third Lesson (by Birds)
Poem One (written a year and a half ago):
TWICE I SAW A BIRD, (AFTER SNOW FALL)
Snow not covering a rocky slant
Looked like a bird.
Two winter leaves left on empty branch
Together seemed a bird.
I photographed each bird, in haste,
Till I saw it would not fly away.
Bird that was nothing there
Something there that was not a bird.
Oh well,
It was nice to see these birds, never moving.
I like birds, but they're usually flitting away.
Poem Two: (written a year and a half later):
THIRD LESSON
And now I've got to write a new poem
Because the most amazing thing happened!
First Mother Nature warns me
"Don't project, don't misinterpret"
And I write my poem to remember it
Then one and a half years later
I walk into the room
With the picture window looking out that very same direction.
It's late summer now
There's a crab apple with a hummingbird feeder
Nearby
I look out and see,
A twig with what might be, a bird's belly above it.
Anyway, it's a bit lighter than the other leaves
Oh!!! now I say: Fool me once, shame on you!
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Try to fool me three times......
You really are mocking me now!
I will NOT be rushing for my camera
I will NOT be thinking bird will fly away
It's a trick of the light,
It's an upturned leaf,
So I walk away, returning many times
Throughout the day
........Always that same stable leaf, upturned leaf,
(unmoving, and tethered)
And I have learned from the past....
No flitting will be happening,
But you know, -----I'll just get my camera
And take a picture--- zoom in and see the leaf,
Yoked by its stem
With slight shivers in the breeze
.......like the fluffing of feathers.
I zoom in...... and....the upturned leaf has a long stem...
...No....beak!!, and then it up and flies away!!.....
Okay, Mother Nature,
You're funny and you mock me
Yes, I love it that you tease me
And I get it now....though I didn't before
Tiny hummingbirds can sit stationary.....for hours...
Guarding territory.
So...."Don't misinterpret"
"Don't project onto others"
But,
"Don't stop Believing"
"Don't close down in reaction"
I've made mistakes in life
I'm unreliable when presuming
But I'm still worthy of being taught...........
..........If only I don't close down,
Improbabilities cloak possibilities
And though we may not know it
Hints encircle and surround
Though we cannot easily see it
Still if we believe in it
Strange interventions are all around.
