OBVIOUSLY I LOVE YOU BUT IF I WERE A BIRD
Creative Strategy #12: Embrace the now. It is all we have.
Yes, obviously, I love you
But, honestly, if I were a bird
I would have the whole sky.
I could touch down anywhere
& every day would be an adventure.
True, I would miss much.
But if I were a bird I would have
No need of walking, hands or doors.
I would take my meals anywhere,
Drink from puddles, outfly any
Predator, sleep in the treetops,
Sing every morning at the top of my lungs.
True, I would leave behind much.
Your face on the pillow next to me.
Your hand enfolded in mine.
Your harmony blending with my voice.
Your laugh, your eyes, your smell.
The way your art gently takes my legs
Out from under me & leaves me falling.
Your good sense which grounds me.
Your anger even, which is, admittedly,
a storm to seek shelter from, though
the shelter of your heart is truly
as sturdy as any branch, cozy
as any nest & not incidentally
wider than the sky.
—Patrick O’Leary
(this is the title poem in a forthcoming collection.)