Friday, March 17, 2017

Poem: "One Day"

Photo courtesy of Pixabay. In the public domain.

One Day

One day, before the earth grew old
and mostly bald and full of stink,

one day I woke to music, to a chirrup
in the trees that rose and fell
like exhalations of the earth itself―
a gargling of the morning air
in bright polyphony, in crisp staccato.

And I knew the birds were prophesying―
knew I heard the voice of God,
sweeter than the earth itself,
rising like a counterpoint, an arching,
aching tremolo―

heard the wild of Him that we have tamed
come bursting forth in feathers
and arpeggios and yearnings inexpressible,
too large and small for syllables that slip
into our narrow ears;

and so I stood and listened to the world
as He described it, listened to the reveling,

and knew that I was born for this―knew
that doves, that sparrows sing epiphany
at dawn each day, and breathe
the earth’s core in and out, and feather
all that breathes and flies and sings,
and I must sing, must sing, must sing,

and this is my arpeggio, my only syllable.

Amen.

© Judith Deem Dupree 2017


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