I was studying the beak of a baby bird,
soft as a baby’s finger. Fallen
from it nice nest, it took all I had
to climb to a place to put it back
Suddenly the mother, screeched
to a stop on a branch now thrashing
like a stick to beat me off with.
She did not mean to hurt me, merely
ward me off from my innocent
admiration.
I was searching the ocean for a reason
not to dive and saw a dark shape
floating like a playful porpoise,
or perhaps a shark, perhaps a whale calf
stroking the sharp bark of rock cliff
as if that protrusion might be
its dead mother, just now,
being hauled up on a hook.
I was touching soft stone
bones of belief in your return,
even if I had said,
“Not now, not yet,”
and “not this way.”
When I went to recover
you, you were already lost to me
in a tangle of crushed hopes.
Author notes
When we are young, sometimes we do not know what we had until it is too late. Later, returning to recover it, we find it is way beyond too late.
In a list
A contest entry
- unattainable love by forever and ever.
390 points, ended February 2, 2007, 19 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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I LOVED this write! i feel this way right now, so this one is really special to me now! thank you for entering my contest!
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Yes, and we feel it hundreds of times in our lives as we age...it always leaves its longing and mark on you...but we do survive in spite of it. ty again.
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Another amazing piece. I think you write beautifully
I am soooo toast in our other lil contest
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lol, you are the sweetest thing. I love your comments...they always lighten my day.
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