White Stork

Cherry

By onemorething

Sun, 08 Nov 2020
  • 1433 reads
6 comments
 

We all think about birth,

perhaps because we don't remember it;

the moment of emergence and separation 

from sanctuary, when light and air

seared eye and lung, our first cry - 

forgotten, so we must ask for this history 

over and over again 

as if this will mould a memory. 
 

And we wonder what genes

have pulled us in a particular direction:

the inheritance of a reluctant smile,

the scarlet of a beak or

a propensity for goodness.

 

The white stork is just as mysterious,

its time counted in movement,

where to wade is slow, and patient

for these masters of the shallows

who are spectators of the gestures

of water. But we pace our own pools,

keep our own secrets, and

having thoughts of wings,

we imagine destinations.

 

Smaller birds roost 

in a stork's broad nest -

a joint ambition built sturdy,

fertility in bill rattle for each egg 

as though it was a receptacle 

for all the divisions of evolution 

that ever swam the blood.

 

We muster like storks for good weather - 

that in flight we might recover

an inner truth that leads us back

to hope, back to a start 

where there was only the simplicity

of love between us, and in this acceptance

of how we arrive and depart,

we will also consider death. 

 

 

If you would like to see some beak clacking, this video gives me joy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fDqu4Qi5oVo

Image above from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bird_illustration_from_Svenska_Fåglar_(Swedish_Birds)_by_the_von_Wright_brothers_from_rawpixel%27s_original_edition_of_the_publication_00293.jpg

 

Also on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_James_Audubon_-_American_Stork_-_WGA01059.jpg

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyconia_(stork)_-_Der_naturen_bloeme_-_Jacob_van_Maerlant_-_KB_KA_16_-_080r_a1.jpg

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ciconia_ciconia_-_01.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

 

Certificate PG
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

The miracle of life always amazes me Rachel. Your description of this beautiful, majestic bird, and significance of connecting birth with death always remains a mystery. I'm glad that you wrote this poem. because you enhance the quality of learning something new in this ever changing world we're living in.

Long live your search for information written so eloquently.

Jenny. 

 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Jenny, that's very kind. They are wonderful birds. When I wrote it, I did think I have a bit of a thing about wading birds - I think it's their patient scrutiny of the water that appeals to me and that they all have long, sharp and/or interesting beaks to catch prey with - like the heron or spoonbill etc. The connection between life and death is a bit of a preoccupation of mine at the moment; the circularity of things, how life also relies upon death - in the sense of a stork eating a frog, for example. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reading it. Rachel x

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Absolutely beautiful poem, Rachel, and that beak clacking video filled me with joy too!  My cat was fascinated.  Probably for entirely the wrong reasons.

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks airyfairy. Am very pleased you liked it, and the video! Their bill clacking is fantastic, but yes, I'm sure your cat had more malign reasons for being so interested. I might show mine later, he's fond of a YouTube bird film. I play cat videos to him sometimes when he is hassling me for his dinner, he finds watching small birds and squirrels whets the appetite (and temporarily shuts him up). Rachel x

 

Submitted by littleditty on

On birth and origins, my dog gets told the story of her origins/arrival regularly!! and I'm (not, as that would be bonkers:) sure she understands every (key) word and the idea of it too. She always listens intently to this story - like she is 'trying to mould a memory', of being small...is how it feels - like when a kid listens to the same story againand again, to mould a memory of the story, weigh their feelings again against it. Perhaps a littl more certain this story of hers does not lead her to also ponder too long on death and afters tho - lucky dogs, but any story for the kid human will contain it, the anxiety/curiosity of it, inevitable considerations, etc. As is so when reading a poem about birth, and storks, not only delivering humans from the sky in a hankerchief, but sharing their nests like a birthing station - cool birds -the clacking beaks? Shaking up a gene coctail? Does that actually do something? Makes your stork an alchemist type, imagined busy, and wearing specs!  Super poem.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Nicky. I'm completely sure that your dog understands - I have explained his history to my cat too - so we can both agree that this is entirely sane and understandable behaviour...When my cat is listening intently his eyes dart from side to side as he tries to decipher English. So I know he knows what I'm saying... I remember enjoying the repeated story of my birth; what time, what I was like as a baby etc. I love the idea of bird alchemists. There is another poem there. Thanks for reading it and leaving a lovely comment. Rachel x