The Sign - with audio

audio link

The birds fly toward the sunset
When they return I know not

I asked for a sign
From the One on high
I found then the place
Where the Peregrine slept
That prince of freedom
That traversed the
Sunrise heavens
Beyond the peak of day
Lay broken now
In the bushy green shadows
His lifeless talons
Still clutching the tender branch
As if at life to hold
The splendor of his royal coat
Remained undiminished
As was his glorious winged form
So, I buried him
My daughter marked his grave
Beyond the estates and gardens
Not less than 3 loved ones
Flew away
Each one
Greater than most
Each sweetly fruitful

So this is the message then,
Even the greatest among us
Those that we wish to emulate,
Are plucked from the stock,
Tree, bush, field and vine
We to then,
Who, either lowly in visage,
Or climbing to the stars,
Will be harvested
When ripe and
No amount of mourning,
Ceremony or memorial
Can make clear the eroding,
Extinguished life
Save that which is
Eternal and unknowable
At this time

The only certainty
This proclamation brings
Is that with every rising sun
Many countless stars
Drift beyond
Our gravity and view
Until we are invited
And taken in
To shine
In that community
Of the unseen
Forevermore.