THE HAWK SONG

Tonight there's a hawk that's flying
up over the smoky world
its mind is a collared angel
chained to a watching girl

how darkly the waves must love you
how sharply the wind must rise
I walk with my heart around you
trying to see through your wings and eyes

oh brother come stay beside me
I promise the morning star
cause you move without looking backwards
and see things for what they are

the world made of light and shadow
the valley where love lies down
the view from the peaky mountain
over a scatter of roads and towns

look at all the soul stung people
you pass on your way through time
if I could I would give them shelter
if I could I would serve them wine

Then we would make confession
to learn how the wild words sound
to see what the waves uncover
combing over the moonlit ground

but you soar from sharpened mountains
and accuse me of all such cares
to address such a world unbounded
from the cage of a human prayer

tumbling past the waves' blue voices
without wings and feather bare
part of me like you is rising
hovering in the wordless air


--NV 2009