DENEOUMONT

The sparrow I found drowned

in the water trough just wanted

a drink, I’m sure, and died in a 

struggle against its own innocence,

a kind of faith in the goodness

to be found in a still, wet pool

deeper than it could know.

We go too fast,

eat too much,

spend our days in the

languorous pleasure of our

meaningless purposes

as though posing for

a portrait painted by

Jackson Pollock, our story

nothing more than a

Naked Lunch.

I did not see the

flailing wings,

the terrorized eyes, or

waterlogged feathers,

and can only imagine

its tiny, primal

struggle against this

great collapse of faith

in the freedom of flight,

of another forest, another

tree, a little nest of yellow

mouths to feed.

We need to drink from some

new fountain, to satisfy

ourselves with the flavor of

something strange...

Like the sparrow who cannot

believe death lies in a friendly

pool of cool water, we abandon

freedom for empty promises

from an evil elite who know

exactly how to use our thirst

against us. Those whose money

or fame make us believe we

will be refreshed as we flail

our wings, unable to breathe

under the crushing weight of

safety paid for (because nothing

is free) with gold mined

by our fathers.

Reviews

[Ken Simm.]

I would like to be associated with the remarks of the speaker above. Strange to relate I also have literally just pulled a dead sparrow from one of my water troughs and thought about writing about it. Now I needn't bother because you have done it so well and made such pitthy remarks that I can see so clearly.

[Vol]

Thanks again, Ken!
The very concept of life as a thing is incomprehensible. After the billions of years they say it has been around, and through it all still thrives! That there is a conscious act of creation... life from stones, and dirt and H2O, pulled together so someday a sparrow would drown in our troughs. Too big a thought to fit in my little brain-box.
Vol

[emmajoygreen]

How easy it is to recognise friends.. when they think in the way you have, Vol. When Man openly acknowledges the small, often helpless and know how the one represents the almost living of a vast majority.. there is hope. ethics and empathy still to be found, slowly straining way into HumanKIND.

Such fine words, gently but clearly set.. as are those of your following reviewers. Thank your for you sensitive words, sir.

[Vol]

Emma!
After reading your poetry, I knew we were of a common mind, and I am blessed to call you my friend. Your comments are always spot on, and your creations food for the soul.
Vol

[emmajoygreen]

Thank you, Vol. Your post is a very beautiful metaphor - that of the core of your thoughts . Am surprised.. sad.. that you've not had more reviews; especially having read that last stanza.

[Lorry]

That poor bird! Only knowing danger when it is caught in water too deep.
We would tell a kid it was an accident and that it rarely happens, but they find out one day that fate is only an egotists whim, pushing our heads below the water and keeping it their, watching us flap and struggle for the breath they decide we won't get.
I just hope it's quick when it happens... While knowing it won't be.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so metaphorical....love it.
those poor birds drowning in the hope of something better, yet dying penniless...

They don't know what they are getting into...was at my parents' home in Carolina, they lived on a golf course, 11th hole...lake behind their house...I was fishing, saw a little sparrow flailing in the water...
went and retrieved it....nursed it a bit back to health.

That little bird got better and stayed around the house for a few days...it would light on the window sill looking in as if saying Thanks.
If only those who have would reach out to the have-nots...they don't enough.
j.

[Vol]

Jacob,
Thanks for your comments,
People today seem much too willing to trust the government, from my 74 years of observation, I think they excel at three things, 1. Roads, 2. Military, 3. breaking what works. And this from a group too stupid to understand gender!
As to our feathered dinosaur descendants...
I hang a towel and have leaned a board in the tank for those poor guys who might fall in... a lesson learned too late... but speaking of birds, I'm at my brother's house in Wake Forest, and there is a pair of Summer Tanagers who have discovered the suet hanging by the kitchen window, he taps in the morning to announce they are there… nothing like a little beauty to start the day, especially when dressed in red!
Vol