The Poetry of Ellin Anderson

SONG-SPARROW

Ellin Anderson

Sparrow, do you remember,
One summer, long ago,
You perched upon a juniper,
And let your music flow?

The dawn split like a jeweled egg,
Revealing joy and light;
The world turned on a single peg:
Your song, and then your flight.

Yes — the whole world was singing;
My little mate was there:
She chirped to see me bringing
A strand of golden hair

To weave within the warm, dry hay
Where she and I were blessed
With pale green treasures, tucked away,
Dun-speckled, in the nest.


That scene has never faded:
Those threads of gold were mine
To share, before I traded
Ripeness for mellow wine —

And it's so short a season,
Although the days are long.
Is bitterness the reason
You need so sweet a song?

Like raindrops on the petal,
As soft as sleep, it floats:
"Sweet-kettle-kettle-kettle,"
And streaks my breast with notes,

And strikes the ear of memory,
And telescopes the years
Of what was, and will never be,
And streaks your face with tears.

Oh Sparrow, now the pain is keen,
For you were always whole;
You never had to choose between
Your body and your soul.

But Poet, that was not my choice,
Or forced on you, by far.
Now, let us share a single voice,
And perch upon a star.


© 2008 by Ellin Anderson. All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be copied or used in any way
without written permission from the author.

 
St. Patrick's Day
Seabrook
Tiger and Blue Jewel

Winter's Hill
Maple-Key Song
November in Camelot

Wassail Song
Veleda
Cinderella
The Rooster at Midsummer
Liberty Enlightens the People

The Leap
The Goldfinch
Three Bears
Song of the Lily
White Tree at Twilight
The Christmas Tree

Grand Bois du Nord
The Owl
Moth Summer
Verticordia
The Little God of Joy
Pear-Petals
Photographing the Moon
A Rabbit
Rose, Do You Know
The Two Pining Bachelors
Lorelei
Persephone

Avalon
The Harvest Chorus
The Maple Mask
Ghost Cardinal

The Little Heath-Rose
Found
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Song for the Harp

The Spinner
 
The Prayer of Cephalus
Circe and Ulysses
The Black Arts
Tristan and Isolde & Jupiter's Two Casks
Nectanebus

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More Poems by Ellin Anderson

The Little Mermaid
Vermeer
Anne's Hearth