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My humanity
by Shirin Swift
you sent me something
I do not seem to know what it is
Ive studied it worshipped it
asked of it troubled questions
Ive cooked for it and played its games
washed its feet
found it wanting nothing of me it seems
but sleep and sometimes
popular hymns,
this thing youve sent
with legs and wings,
it prays I think maybe to you
maybe to me or the frangipangi
moon
it stands up on its hind legs
and howls it fits in the back pocket
of my jeans it hatches forlornly
in deserted places
it is frozen to the trees
on the verge of extinction
blind and beggarly
omniscient and craven I know
Ive seen it
holding its breath
on the ferry as it bucks
stands and as it brings
water to the earth
sings
08/26/2008 Posted on 08/26/2008
Copyright © 2024 Shirin Swift
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Sophia Grace on 08/26/08 at 03:42 PM Oh, oh, oh this is excellent. I don't know exactly what it is either but I love the way it skulks at the edge of all things. This is so powerful. |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 04/06/09 at 12:11 PM some unique quality or other in this ode exceeds my ability to pin it down, but it is sufficient to feel it and leave it there. |
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