Birdsong Resumes
A leaf takes all your concentration.
A silver-green side and a brighter green
green side curled into a little boat.
Braving an uncertain voyage becoming real
only as it happens.
Intuitively you follow the music
of this singular leaf on its clear stream
for the value it must bring.
You needn't apologise for your nature
though you have a way of looking
in a minor key.
Your musicbox opens
the ballerina twirls
inevitably music ends
and there's your sadness.
This tiny boat pirouettes
catching light in every way
jaunty in the wavelets rhythm.
Now, this unnamed boat navigates its course
cheered on by by a hundred browning hulls
stranded among weeds either side.
You are aware of islands of trailing twigs
the danger of being snagged there forever.
And your fearless boat, as the biggest ships,
can be engulfed and sunk at any moment.
But you are satisfied this proud boat
will complete the longest journey.
It floats out of sight. Birdsong resumes.
Check your watch: yes, it's still there.
Aviva Rifka Bhandari
Sat 16th Jan 2021 17:53
I especially liked 'cheered on by by a hundred browning hulls
stranded among weeds either side.' as it formed a kind of crescendo from where you were perhaps the only one noticing the adventurous leaf, to suddenly a myriad of attention from even more interested observers.
It's uplifting and inspiring to be reminded how just one tiny detail, given enough attention, can be transformational if we can see it as such.
There's also a kind of analogy that we are each like the leaf floating along a stream on an uncertain but hopeful journey.