The Gardener 67: O My Bird
The Gardener 67: O My Bird - meaning Summary
Persist in Solitary Flight
The poem addresses a bird as a listener and image of a lonely traveler, urging it not to fold its wings as evening, darkness, and the threatening sea close in. Natural images—veiled sky, swelling sea, sleeping dawn—figure isolation and danger, yet the speaker insists that ultimately there is neither hope nor fear, only the bird's wings and the boundless sky. It foregrounds endurance, self-reliance, and continuing flight despite uncertainty.
Read Complete AnalysesThough the evening comes with slow steps and has signalled for all songs to cease; Though your companions have gone to their rest and you are tired; Though fear broods in the dark and the face of the sky is veiled; Yet, bird, O my bird, listen to me, do not close your wings. That is not the gloom of the leaves of the forest, that is the sea swelling like a dark black snake. That is not the dance of the flowering jasmine, that is flashing foam. Ah, where is the sunny green shore, where is your nest? Bird, O my bird, listen to me, do not close your wings. The lone night lies along your path, the dawn sleeps behind the shadowy hills. The stars hold their breath counting the hours, the feeble moon swims the deep night. Bird, O my bird, listen to me, do not close your wings. There is no hope, no fear for you. There is no word, no whisper, no cry. There is no home, no bed for rest. There is only your own pair of wings and the pathless sky. Bird, O my bird, listen to me, do not close your wings.
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