God's Own Poems, Like Sparrows in the World
Brandon Cook
The rhythm of these little birds—sparrows, I think, or finches
Lands like God’s poetry on the branches
They are nervous, these birds, like unsettled fingers,
Startled, perhaps, by the beauty of the bright world
But then they fly in uncomprehending grace, quickly heedless of any beauty or the forested space of green which leans in to befriend their tiny frames
Since each beat of the wing is driven by hunger, they have no time or thought or feeling for anything other
than beating wings and the daily hunt to quench the sting
(How things change depending on our perspective and our place)
Like all living things, they are driven forward first by the beauty, then by the hunger of the world
With inscrutable, searching eyes, they pine, they dive
But still, beauty can divert their eyes, and surprise them
Just as poems must be sent out, like Noah’s dove,
To take in the world from above
And keep things in perspective
Some bright, right thing to find
So God’s own self is always sent hungry into the world
Like a poem, a word, a dove
Since God needs to take wing and remember
What dirt and dust taste like
And the joy of alighting on supple springtime branches
As hunger, for a sunlit moment, recedes, and we hover—with God and the spring-bound birds—above the fray