Fragile Acts of Faith

Fragile Acts of Faith[1]

 

(One by the Bird, One by the Hand of Fate)

 

The swallows hoist their wings like Grecian sails,

For so absorbed in matters of the heart,

They boldly glide by dangers

 

Without care

 

And from the course

Of romance do not part

 

They share an ancient language so obscure

That other birds don’t start

To hear them speak

 

They spoon in rising curves

And figure-eights

 

And more than not,

They gain the one

They seek.

 

The mourning doves

Love in another way,

 

Wherein no impulse

Moves them from a perch

 

Like marble gods that mock

A beardless wind �"

 

They wait in wisdom

And decline

To search

 

They have a secret

Hidden in themselves

 

And share it not,

Though it the other knows:

 

A troth is sanctioned in a prudent way

And slowly comes to comfort as love grows.

 

The redbirds,

At their leisure,

Feed on love,

 

And couples dine together when they pair -

 

They keep the rules

That govern company:

 

They nod a little

And a little share

 

They move in semicircles on the grass

And chat a pretty patois as they do

 

But pregnant pauses

Seem to be a theme

 

Before love's conversation, they renew

 

So are we brought

 

Together,

 

Bride and man,

 

In sundry

Rites of love

In dizzy youth,

 

And like the birds

Must love as we are made

 

In fragile acts of faith

And doubtful truth.

 

But no heart yet

Has found a way to pair

That can instruct another

Who would mate,

 

For rituals

Are fashioned

In two ways:

 

One by the bird,

 

One by the hand of fate.[2]

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[1] Mara, Paris’s daughter, once set “The Shaming of a Bird” to music; Some weeks later, his elder daughter, Misha, used one of his bird poems in an animated film. Both efforts seemed to exceed the artistic virtue of what he had written. To him, an artist can experience no greater sense of satisfaction than that which results from inspiring another to advance the cause of beauty.

 

 

[2] Putting aside the pairing activities of the avian world, Paris was a Christian personalist who believed that every act of love is a fragile demonstration of faith, one that is at least in part based on an individual’s belief in the concept of love, his highly personalized understanding of that concept, and his ability to express it. This is not to say that Paris believed that love is an individual’s invention, only that a person’s concept of love and his means of expressing it are unique.