Without words



It was my own fault
I had read too much
in the sparrow's eye
that caught mine
while the bird balanced
itself on a low twig
of the front-lawn bush

I was stupidly convinced
we could go on from there
discuss weather and woes
the sad economy that yielded
few dollars and fewer worms

I thought I had at last realized
here on this August morning
my favorite childhood dream
of speaking and understanding
the foreign tongue of animals

but what the sparrow saw
reflected in the mirror of my eye
was itself, brown wings
gently rising and falling
with each tiny breath

the sky behind its head
the slow-moving clouds
beckoning new flight
and when it heeded
that cumulus call
I watched the twig rustle
as the sparrow soared high

and it brought to mind
in the pain of a moment
how little we had said
in parting when your plane
carried you away forever
into deceptively friendly skies

#
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
0

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAXXXX XXXBX XCXCX XAXCX DXXBXXA XXDXXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 837
Words 161
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 7, 5, 5, 5, 7, 6

Salvatore Buttaci

A retired teacher and compulsive writer, I ply the writing craft daily, composing poems, stories, articles, blogs, and letters.My book, A Family of Sicilians...is available right here at http://stores.lulu.com/ButtaciPublishing2008Also there is a chapbook for English teachers who need help teaching poetry. It's called Painless Poetry.and another book of mine, a collection of 164 short-short stories, Flashing My Shorts, is availableFROM AMAZON.COM at   http://tinyurl.com/26u8huk OR KINDLE EDITION  at  http://tinyurl.com/2f369weI live in West Virginia with the love of my life, my wife Sharon. more…

All Salvatore Buttaci poems | Salvatore Buttaci Books

0 fans

Discuss the poem Without words with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Without words" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/91523/without-words>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    11
    hours
    24
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Roald Dahl wrote: "The animal I really dig, above all others is the..."
    A horse
    B cat
    C pig
    D dog