The Language of Birds

to Percy Bysshe Shelley

it isn't the wish to be heard, predominantly

but the long documented wish

to translate the language of birds

that impelled those dreaming poets

never heard from on this plane or barely now

so that the fragments appear in partial eclipse on

this plain of plainspoken words

which leveled the playing field to such

a degree it became a sinkhole,

thus we have drowned the Icarian mode in our times

and on some days, I fear, for all time

except that I  know the soaring flights are 

preordained that some had gained

and those who seek to trample out that fire

in fits of misplaced rage on every stage

well may recollect Ozymandius

and think better of it.

mary angela douglas 14 july 2021