The Swallows of our Abbey

[SweetSilverBird]

The Swallows of Our Abbey
by Deborah Neher

Innocent children of the air,
Why do you come to my call?
Does the sound of my music resonate within
as your wings swoop and skim
along the water's edge?

God's sun shines on your backs
now blue! Now green!
Reflecting the colour of His eyes.
How do you make my plodding heart
so light?

Harbingers of God's joy
I am a temporal creature and never shall fly.
I need not touch the purity of your feathers.
You need only dip your wings to lend God's grace
to me.

[Brigid Briton]

Lovely poem and picture, Deb. But, how do you know what color God's eyes are?

Great job!

Brigid

[SweetSilverBird]

The swallows told me.

Of course his eyes are every colour and no colour.. but in his birdies watching me, they were for me as magical as the blue/green backs of swallows. After all, didn't he say 'his eye is on the sparrow' I figured if they were on the birdies, he could see me too.

[Fire Monkey]

I love the way you capture the feeling of the birds in flight and connect it with joy that could be brought to those watching.

[diannet]

Oh...this is so nice. My son and I love the swallows who have taken up residence in our shopping centre. Mind you the management doesn't seem to have the same feelings. They've blocked them from their home. Sneaky lil things just keep coming back. I love their persistence. Lovely poem!

[SweetSilverBird]

Thanks Diannet.

The story of this poem is that my son, who was only 13 at the time, decided he wanted to study to be a priest at a monastery way up in the mountains. I missed him terribly and I was only allowed to visit him on certain weekends, and on the first weekend of the month, he could visit home.

I play baroque recorder. It sounds very much like birdsong to birdies. I had to wait for my son to come out, so I walked down to their little pond and began to play my instrument. Suddenly the air was full of swallows playing and dancing and swirling to the music. It was so wonderful! I felt suddenly blessed. It was one of those moments that you never forget. They are lovely birds, and my heart was so full. Now that Abbey has a framed version of this poem on their monastery wall.

(modified to say that this was my baby boy. Last child home, and his leaving made me sad and depressed, and at the same time proud of him for following his dream)

[diannet]

That's so lovely, how wonderful to have such a moment with nature and the story is there forever on the monastery wall. I am glad your son followed his dream or calling...that's wonderful.

[eiken]

Wow, this is very beautiful and the photo is lovely too. Wonderful flow with the birds, the music and water. I loved the changing colour of God's eyes, I never thought about this before and I agree, our feathered friends bring us so much joy, just the dipping of their wings makes my heart soar.

[Brigid Briton]

Hi Deb,

This is so lovely and your story of how it came about so lovely, that I thought we should all take another (or a first) look at it! Great poem, Sweet Silver Bird!

[Reilley]

What a lovely and lyrical moment of connection. This was really very cool. 

[blackbird]

I read this several times and can only say from one birdsong to another......sweet are the words of the Silver Bird.
FYI~You would love my favorite little book. It is very old, an antique little pocket book by Olive Shreiner. It has several of her works in three sections. .... A Dream of Wild Bees; In A Ruined Chapel; Life's Gifts; The Artist's Secret; I Thought I Stood. This reminds me of, "In A Ruined Chapel." A very lovely poem, reminding me of a very lovely story.

[John Walton]

A beautiful poem with a beautiful story behind it. Well done!