The Usual Afternoon Walk Poem by RIC BASTASA

Flying sparrows, worry they do not
About what to eat about what tomorrow
Shall be, God tells us, so that
We humans, his servants, his children,
His friends, need not worry too

We know that we are spoken of that
God’s love and goodness
He feeds the sparrows from the grains
Of this field, he makes them drink from
The rain, he gives them all the sweetness
From the fruits of the trees
He had given them limitless skies
Where they can all fly
He had given them nests
For them to call home in all the nights
And storms

I walk today on this path, after a hard day’s work
I like to think
Reassuring ideas as these
God’s love and kindness
I like to see
These birds flying again around me in this
Usual afternoon walk
When the sun is about to set
On these walling mountains
How wonderful to see this scenic view!
How good the feeling to see the sparrows again1
Though I cannot hold and touch them
The softness of their feathers
The agility of their small wings
The lightness of their bodies
Their quick soars and dives and light landings!

I guess. Now, I am also feeling fine
This light body, the small wings of my soul,
The flight of my thoughts, soaring and diving and lightly landing
to the hands of my God
In the twilight of these dusky skies.