This poem is based on a real experience I had recently, a second of eternal time that clarified something important for me. Thanks, Mr. cardinal, wherever you are!

Come Follow

Come follow the call of the free-flying cardinal,

The red bird, the bright bird, winging his song over snow-silences,

Whose flight does not freeze him nor fell him to earth

Though he never flees to find the summer southward,

But lives to lift his voice where day dies lonely and dark lingers late.

His hope is not hid in some far-off spring,

But bells forth in his crystal cry

That this day is sweet, this day is all he has,

While you stand waiting to welcome winter’s waning as your due,

As what you are owed for enduring not even an hour’s subjection to the wind

As he must do just to find his dinner.

What can he have to sing about, you ask,

This imprudent wanderer in winter woods?

And yet he goes on, never knowing if spring will come,

But singing anyway as though it were already here,

No fire but the fierceness of his own little life to warm him,

No food but what he is vouchsafed by the slumbering land.

So follow him, my heart, and let him lead you!

Let his joyful chanting change your ice to rivers of tears,

Your cold and stony places to sun-warmed soil,

For here is where you make your stand, and now is when you need to be,

No longer running to find the always-fading sun

But letting dawn live within you by facing your own dark night.

Thanks for listening to Wonder-woven, a poetry podcast from Reveries and Ramblings! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smfeir.substack.com