Thoreau

Wildness

by Amy Belding Brown

Be wild as salmon
throwing your heart ahead of you
up the long ladder of belligerent water
to a still and fragile hope.

Be wild as starlings
flooding the trees with dark bravado
before you make insanity's bright leap
into perfect, empty air.

Be wild as lichen
living on stone and harrowing wind,
relentless as glaciers in your advance
across the flinty lap of time.

Be wild as night moths
singing your fierce, white songs
as you fling the burnt offering
of your body to the light.

June 21, 2002

Copyright © Amy Belding Brown