Ibis

Gold cherry

By onemorething

Sat, 12 Dec 2020
  • 2556 reads
13 comments
 

The sacred ibis took flight 

many moons ago, south

to new mudflats, to scour,

sickle billed for the sorcery

of worm and frog, to observe

how a water lily wakes

for the sun and sleeps 

beneath a lunar lustre;

being both timeless

and predictable.

And the ibis, from baobab

treetops, adds days,

counts souls - an ibis

knows what an ibis knows,

what sentinels of death,

in speechless spells, will work

into the emptiness of the air,

unheard, yet unfathomably

there, where gods are

so often abandoned, or 

reformed and renamed. 
 

 

Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Threskiornis_aethiopicus_-_Durban_-South_Africa-8.jpg

Also on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BD_Weighing_of_the_Heart.jpg

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_Sacred_Ibis_colony_in_Montagu,_Western_Cape_b.JPG

 

Certificate U
Poem
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Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Beautiful! (bird and poem)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you - for the poem, an ibis can thank you itself... I think they are beautiful too, especially the Scarlet and glossy ibises (though apparently the scarlet ibis is just another flamingo if you ask some writers). The Australian white ibis gets called a 'bin chicken' or 'tip turkey' which is a bit disrespectful for an ibis if you ask me.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Very disrespectful! Hopefully no-one has told them

 

Submitted by sean mcnulty on

Another stunning snapshot of the natural world. You need to team up with David Attenborough.  

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you Sean, yes, I don't know what David's playing at - ignoring me, the restraining order...

 

Submitted by sean mcnulty on

This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day.  Please share and retweet.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks so much, am chuffed. :)

 

Submitted by Mark Burrow on

And another one to add to the list. Fantastic. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Mark. :)

 

Submitted by marandina on

Well I do know a little about the ibis. I've stayed in the odd one as well! Gorgeous, of course.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Ah, thank you. And yes, this is not one you stay in - no room at the inn. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

No sounds in this poem. It seems very peaceful and airy and languid, like dying in ibis spell would be like slipping gently under warm water and finding you could breathe. I do like and admire how you create feeling in your poems, giving an idea space and time to open slowly where there had been no sign of a flower before

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you Di. It's very perceptive of you to notice the lack of sound which was deliberate as ibises make very little noise at all. As usual, one of your comments is almost a poem in itself, such lovely thoughts. :)