Red Bird Dream

Red Bird Dream
I was walking in the pasture
in the clearing of the pasture
oak trees all around the clearing
on a small shrub of the hawthorn
many small birds perched in silence
and in silence fluttered upwards
and began to fly away
One a red bird separated
from the flock of many small birds
separated in its beauty
brilliant red with touch of black
fluttered nearer hovered over me
in its brilliance and its redness
and a small hope was born in me
and I lifted up my arm
and I lifted up my finger
as the bird descended to me
and it landed on my hand
the beauty became weight
and the weight of it did frighten
so my eyes closed as it landed
so beautiful so heavy
on my lifted awkward hand
I knew that I must see it
while I had such beauty near me
but afraid of claw and beak
I hesitated in my dark
The hope of seeing beauty
and the knowledge of its beauty
touched me and convinced me
and I opened then my eyes

-Mar. 3, 2010