starfall sequence

sheila packa

^

two wild swans
came in the dark hours
by star light far into the journey
to lend their wings

traveled north over ten rivers
flew over moss riven
boulders broken from the mother stone

over the fens
and spears of birch
through the wordless
winds and migrations
flew over graves
and lovers reaching blindly
through sheets of northern lights

two swans with feathers of falling snow

^

in synchrony and angles
across forests
over rivers
below Venus or
clouds invisible borders
carrying nothing
besides star memories
along arteries of the body
into dark interiors
through the moon's phases
calling to each other
on lovers' endless roads

^

if you answer
when you hear their call

geese in loose and shifting lines
from land to sea to cloud

cross the evening sun red
on clouds of plum
and rivers inlaid in gold and flowing
upon the slopes

cross a border
if you need to leave

in every country
we are born to the same body

wind inimitable
invisible forces change us
beyond reach

if you make the sky your home

—it isn't easy, you can't bring
those things—

wrap in those lines
cross with them

^

wind turns the body
and ground falls away

geese unafraid of silence
or empty sky
must go must go must go

reach into the wind
move as clouds rimmed with sunlight
or dark cloud of rain

need to follow their flight
like ice in the spring
that once held the river

light surges in the veins
searches for the beginning
of a journey yes

music you haven't heard
didn't know you needed
opens deep