Friday 9 August 2013

Swiftless

Gone.

Gone from the gentle Summer skies,
Gone from sight of gladdened eyes,
No more the joyful, hurtling cries.

Gone.

Mid-August evening quietly passing,
Without the passionate frenzied dashing,
Of ebon blades of sharp wings flashing.

Gone.

Gables, chimneys, rooftops all,
Becalmed, bereft, no more in thrall,
Of fierce and furious screeching call.

Gone.

Return they will, we hope, we pray,
To bring anew the late Spring day,
But now the loss, the price we pay.

Gone.

11 comments:

holdingmoments said...

I've made my toast all soggy now.

Imperfect and Tense said...

On the plus side, Keith, and to your credit, I bet you see a 2014 Swift before I do! Sorry about the toast,

Martin said...

That is a nice piece of writing, yours?
I am not looking forward to seeing them go from here either, although on the plus-side they become such a part of my daily life that i take a few days before I notice their absence.

Imperfect and Tense said...

Thank you. Not exactly Ted Hughes, but I felt the need to mark their leaving. Do you have Swifts for longer than 3 months?

Katie (Nature ID) said...

I'm unfamiliar with this swifts leaving business. Is it that noticeable?

Imperfect and Tense said...

Er... noticeable enough to drive this old curmudgeon to poetry.

Try this amazing clip from some guy in Denmark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd3NlfbA7yQ

and then try to contemplate the feeling on the next evening, when it's absent :o((

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Oh, wow!

Martin said...

Everyone (who writes) writes poetry in different ways. This poem has a certain style and catches the imagination of some of your readers, therefore it has performed its purpose. I read my poetry quickly, with a bounce, but I don't know if it conveys the same meaning read slowly. It doesn't really matter, if the author s happy with it.

Regarding the swifts, I have taken a week to look around and contemplate your question. Certainly the swifts arrived before those in the UK, logical being further south. And the swifts are still around and screaming this morning in the skies above Nice. Whether they are the same swifts, or others arriving from further north, I don't know as we have had some quiet days. There have also been others where the noise of Cicadas is drowning out anything else. All in all, yes the swifts are still here, but i don't think for much longer. Their passing will be noticed, as with you.

Imperfect and Tense said...

[Asks cheekily] Are Cicadas a techno-Pyrennian folk band? ;o)

Spadger said...

Great bit of poetry Mr W. Yes our skies are no longer the same. While today I also found myself wishing small parties of young swallows a safe journey as they too now head south.

Imperfect and Tense said...

In less than a week, it will be September. Whoa, where did Summer go?