Threshold
After days on end of summer storm,
down from the plane-trees stripped
thick as snow in the trapped air,
sparrows come down to bathe and stay
to bask on the buckled outhouse roof;
disturbed, fly off to bicker in the pear.
How to interpret this atmosphere,
host shine and lightness, mirror flight
of wing and freight of thunder,
heart heavy with suspicion,
tell what tripped first
over the kerb of distrust?
We stumble still,
collide even in the stillness
we create ourselves
when we pause at city crossings,
the street to the senses
like a just silenced footfall behind.
Speed is not savage, no,
the impulse is, the seed,
what makes the birds disperse.
Page(s) 52
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