Red Bird, Red Bird

Poemata XCIV

Brilliant watcher / bright spark in a frozen world / wind howls, he alights.

Red bird will I vanish as the land is hid
Underneath a snow, into obscurity slid
Dwelling then among the things of death and rot
Life effaced by time, removed both beauty and spot;

Will I flash instead as red upon the white
Darting in the sun, caught in the play of its light
Finding food in barrens, seeking rest in rocks
Eking by a margin, carefully watching my stocks;

Red bird lighting softly shakes the snowy branch
Now the air is still, catching his eye with a glance
Thousand like him die in winter or by spring
So he risks his trust, under the down of his wing;

Rising quickly now the red has come and gone
Scanning through the pane, spotting his mate on the lawn
Winter comes for us where theory has no place
Words a mere lament, reason a god with no face;

Red bird burn your records that no one may know
What your life has cost, buried long under the snow
Others gather stores what wisdom bade them keep
Ever shall they stand, all others perish, and weep.