Help
Sign In
courage
December 2008 
Road Cut Swallow
jeepdog
In Spring the Bank Swallow honed,
On the River she knew so well,
To set up a place of family, a home.
She gracefully swooped over the River,
And saw all the preferred bank places,
Were taken, full as a Sparrow arrow quiver.
She caught a draft, and floated high,
Searching desperately for a nesting place,
And spotted a perfect spot by the road nigh.
She built a nest in the unusual place,
A precise duplicate of the "perfect home"
A homey place in the sandy road-cut face.
She caught mosquitoes for sustenance,
They were just as thick here as by the River,
This adaptation was necessary, not perchance.
An older Swallow one day took note,
Of younger Swallow choosing alternate mode,
Apparently ignoring instinctual rote.
He flew near, and chattered angrily,
"You are Bank Swallow, not Cut Swallow,"
Move down to the River, I say verily.
She bravely resisted his taunts,
Deciding to stay and raise her chicks,
Other birds mocking her from their "traditional" haunts.
So late in Spring, from her cut perch above,
She watched the traditionalists drown,
In the River's angry flood waters void of love.
The Swallow embraced her tradition,
Made a perfect copy in a different place,
Adapting what she knew to a new situation.
Glorious "Road Cut Swallow,"
So beautiful in transcendence,
So beautiful in vitality.
.
Access: Public
Tradition always has it's place but you don't have to practice it in the same place as everyone else. I like this.
Why, thank you shea-bird! My poem rejoices with the admiration.
Perhaps I shall craft one about shea-birds!
that should be interesting indeed. LOL
Gave you a seed you can use to grow another poem from, LOL !!!
Suggest additional tags to do fuller justice: innovation, serendipity, synchronicity, courage, selfhood, integrity, independence,
and I can't think of the word: having all traditional ways of fulfilling an intended purpose blocked, instead of giving up, the organism transcends its programming and takes a quantum (discontinuity) leap of creative consciousness, and thus looks around for alternatives and is willing to step into the unknown and do something entirely new and untried for the sake of fulfilling its purpose. I THINK there's a word….
In appreciation, OM Bastet
Wow, out of my league right now, but I promise to continue to catch up.
Dear shea-bird, based on my interpretation of what I think you might have been meaning, I would say this:
Differences, not leagues. Just differences and all of them have precious unique gifts to add to the Whole.
Namaste, OM Bastet
Puzzle is growing into a very serene picture. Beautiful!
Truth=Beauty
I celebrate in our differences.
shea-bird's poem opened a door to the IAM.
Ohm….
Namaste'
Which poem?
Wow, I just discovered this quote from our database, and had to share it here:
http://quotes.gaia.com/51292/there_is_much_unexplored_poten/by_vimala_thakar
Namaste, OM Bastet