“The Wood Thrush Sings”

A poem for those burdened, and wakeful at night--

At the end of day, at the beginning of night
you lift the bed covers so I can climb in by.
The bed is a cave, the sheets cool as limestone
except where you’ve warmed the warp and weft.
The bed is a nest we fold ourselves into, belly
to back, knee to kneefold, wristbone to bone.
Our ribs make a boat of the bed to carry us
to a land of dreams, to what will happen next.

At 3 am I wake up, maybe the IRS, the taxes,
or room after room unpacking hundreds of boxes.
If I put each thing in its place, there will be
a place for the boat to land where the clock
doesn’t tick, where the body is unlocked
from pain, where the wood thrush sings after rain.

To hear the wood thrush sing, go to:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/sounds

--Minnie Bruce Pratt

Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivs
Creative Commons 2010