T H E   B I R D

The sky was cloudless
It appeared to me,
Nought else but the bird
Could I see.


It glided forth
In the still blue sky,
Twisting turning to
Beyond my eye.


Was it a gull?
I'm still not sure,
Spanned wings began to soar -
A loan dancer
In the lonely sky.


And when from vision I thought it gone,
It appeared again as a lingering song,
Keen as an arrow it pierced the sky
Dived and soared, then glided by.


No dance I have seen has equalled it,
No music instilled such peaceful bliss;
I pondered the wonder of the lonely sky
And felt God's hand closely by.


Heaven and earth so closely knit
That only a veil the distance split;
I could not see the yonder sight
And so it is with death and life.


A veil so flimsy, yet I could not see,
Full flight of the bird, a mystery.


© Helen Catherine Cramer