Bird

I was a bird that decided
that falling was better
than flying, as there was
nothing easier than letting
go, and my winged body
crashed against the earth’s
heavy door, pushing it
open to enter a void,
where, even then, I was
still plunging through
silence and darkness,
for so long that it began
to feel as if I could be
perfectly still, or coming
to a still, or coming
out of sleep with a bird
falling in my mind
through sunlight and air,
until it is no longer a bird
but a fistful of feathers,
then an indistinct shadow,
and then not even that.


(Forthcoming in Oneiros by Firstfruits in 2009)