Goddess In The Shape Of A Bird Poem by Ernest Hilbert

For Lynn

You are alone, flown from a ruined city,
And angered, moons and leopards in your hair,
Crystal shields and ships of lightning in your shadow—
Branches bladed over a brook, many
Spears of light caught and sent back to air,
Thrown like loose sparks and sewn into a flow
That carries barks, berries, sand, grain, and gold,
And rolls them slowly downstream to a sea
Where we row great painted triremes
To war for islands we had and cannot hold,
Your breasts and eyes on the prow; you will see
Men hack and be injured and blackened by flames,
So much light gathered and carried now,
So much you must be satisfied. Let us go.