Murmuration

Watercolor painting by Cathleen Cohen showing Hebrew letters in different colors and shapes swirling like a flock of birds flying.
Painting by Cathleen Cohen.

Murmuration
 
Have you ever witnessed starlings
swirl above landscape,
 
scattering souls over
pale, winter grasses
 
in cramped, suburban yards
like mine? The shock
 
might wobble your heart.
I stare as a thousand tiny birds
 
slant toward sunlight,
mimic roofs and branches,
 
bloom into clouds
and blessings.
 
They spread like open fingers
spelling out questions
 
then contract
into a line, a siphon into
 
breath. Pause.
I pray they’ll soon reappear
 
above another landscape.
Although I’m not a scribe,
 
I stay up all night to paint
what I recall – traces.

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