April Poetry | The Cloud Bird

The Cloud Bird

— David Kobrin —

Oh yes,
I saw the cloud bird
Heading north, northwest it was
Against the current
Of the clouds.

It’s head and beak
a shrouded gray
through the background
of billowing white.

Sometimes the unexpected —
the dinosaurs’ return,
rage of ocean wave
the cloud bird against the sky —
that I’m expecting

Head articulated
beak extended —
not mean, or fierce or fearsome —
just pronounced.
and that enough.

The eye stole my heart
(If not yet my life)
Grey pupil, white iris,
to see all;
moving slowly
the earth below
the bird’s domain.

From the kitchen table —
through the window,
over the trees —
our eyes
locked to one another
act of understanding,
if not compassion.

I watched, in thrall,
uplifted and demeaned,
its willing slave and servant
until I’d had too much.

I saw the cloud bird,
Heading north, northwest it was
against the current
of the clouds.