A New Song

I remember the song of the sea,

Beach grass in the breeze,

Great Blue Herons barking

And the twinkling silence of salt.

But I can't feel it anymore,

It's desire,

Nor how it sounded within.

How deep does the cavern go

That echoes so?

Why can't birds fly

The way I want them

Closer, to remind me

How near the water is

Their sounds, waves

Washing over me

Rustling grass on an easy slope of sand.

The birds inside, they hide

And I feel with my feet,

The distance

Between memory and feeling.

What is feeling but memory?

Fill my lungs with saltwater

From the bottom up,

Driving herons through my throat

And out a trembling mouth,

Their wings and beaks and necks

Craning, breaking free—

Old memories to present

Reborn in nesting shallows,

Where there's nothing

But to feel.

© Lauren Winder

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