Hiding under their feathers.

THE BIRDS OF PASSAGE

You are the one who made us
You silver all the minnows in all rivers
You wait in the deep woods
To find the newborn fox cubs
And unseal their eyes
You shower the sky with stars

You walk alone
In the wild royal darkness
Of the heavens above the heavens
Where no one else can go.

When the fragile swallows assemble
For their pilgrimages
When the hummingbirds
Who are scarcely more
Than a glittering breath
Set out for the rain forest
To drink from the scarlet flowers
On the other side of the world
With only now and then
The mast of a passing ship
For a resting place and an inn

When the Canada geese
Are coming down from the north
When the storks of Europe
Stretch out their necks toward Egypt
From their nests on the chimney tops
When shaking their big wings open
And trailing their long legs after them
They rise up heavily
To begin their autumn flight

You who speak without words
To your creatures who live without words
Are hiding under their feathers

To give them a delicate certainty
On the long dangerous night journey.

-Anne Porter

10 thoughts on “Hiding under their feathers.”

Wow! That was so beautiful and encouraging. Since we know that He cares for us more than the birds, we should relax in His tender care and mount up with wings as eagles. Oh Jesus, may I relax more and more in you with each day I am blessed with.

Thank you for this lovely piece dear Gretchen. ~ FlowerLady

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This is wonderful. I’ve already saved it to use with my poets’ birds series.

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That is so, so beautiful. Is there any higher calling and gift than to be given the responsibility to write poetry?

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each line equally breath-taking. thank-you for sharing this!

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This is really beautiful, Gretchen. I hope the birds in migration will be safe on their journeys from the environmental challenges they may face. Safe passage.

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