Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SAINT FRANCIS TO THE BIRDS, by THOMAS WALSH First Line: Birds, - birds of the air Last Line: Forgetful of the little worm and mole! Alternate Author Name(s): Gill, Roderick; Strange, Garrett Subject(s): Animals; Birds; Francis Assisi, Saint (1181-1226); God; Religion; Saints; Theology | ||||||||
BIRDS,birds of the air, Glad wings of the mountain and valley Flashing around me with scatter of petals and rally Through ilex and olive in carnival choir! Draw near, little sisters, and hearken My voice of desire! See where the valleys would darken; Draw nearer, and list my prayer To the Love that hath given Your pinions the realms nearest heaven, Bladed your wing To parry with rain and with hail, Decked you for tempests in feathery mail And taught you to sing! Though but the worm of His wounds I implore You and cross you and bless you, with hand and with mouth Signing North unto South, Signing West unto East, Let His praise be increased! To the North then, ye wings of the snow, Albatross, gull, and all nurselings of waters at war! To the South, ye with emerald plumage aglow For the grace of His Orient temples and bear His comforting Love to the moon-stricken rose! To the East, O ye larks, from your fountains To gather His alms at morn's lattices pale! Owls to your tombs and your belfries!O Nightingale, Away to your sobbing of an empire's woes! But, eagle wings, ye to the West unroll! Vanguards celestial, chanting o'er the mountains! Fowls of the deeps, be ye contemplative there At sundown on His mirrors vast with prayer, Praising His Love that keeps us to His soul! Warn ye the shepherds, swallows, at moonrise then Swinging like living censers out from eave and rafter, And circling dovesNay, Brother Leo, hold not back "Amen," Lest all my heart go winging madly after, Forgetful of the little worm and mole! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY A BALLAD OF OLD POPE JOHN by THOMAS WALSH |
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