I wander far to seek and think,
and rarely find the answer I
was looking for, but often delve
another just as needful of
solution. I recall a day
I thought that man endured above
the whole of Earth in beast or plant.
My walk that day did chance upon
a hummingbird out sipping blooms
of golden yellow honeysuckle.
I thought: here are the frailest things
that God has given roots or wings,
and yet they have endured not knowing
love or hate, and feeling no
regret if we had never met.
I was as frail as they I knew,
and not the stronger for a brain,
but likely weaker for the pain
that I could feel that they could not.
There is a fragility about the whole of existence and you tap into into in this poem Barry We humans do not even have roots or wings. In some ways we are the most frail because of our pain as you say and because we know it will not last. We see so clearly that we are but dust. What a mystery it all is? I really enjoy this type of deep reflective poetry. Again full marks Barry
A very philosophical write, shows deep insight about life. Man as compared to other creation....despite having the ability to think man is probably weaker than other creation because of his feelings. Sometimes we envy the smallest creature for not having the ability to feel pain.
Written long ago. I always loved the lines I thought: here are the frailest things / that God has given roots or wings,
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
This is a very thoughtful poem Barry. I enjoyed reading it. The image of the hummingbird compared to the heavy thinking human...both fragile, but in different ways. I think intelligence and the ability to think is such a gift, but its also difficult, because with this gift, we have the ability to understand how fleeting we all are.
Thank you Pamela. I think I wrote this while still in college.