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The Thought
September 28, 2008
The thought is enough to make it happen
Out of nothing, out of nowhere, a bolt of light
With a mind of its own, animate, wild,
Trembling flesh and hair and small claws;
And wings that grow (though growing must hurt)
As they break from their cage of bones and unfold;
Astonishment on its face, the gift of language
Its inheritance, and the chance of grace;
Something which, in dreams, is much like us,
A remedy for loneliness and isolation,
An imagined friend or distant confessor,
Which defies what we believe in, and changes
All the time as, now, we scan across the clouds
The staggering flight of something never seen before.
by Joe Hyam
Categories: Transformation
Joe Hyam
I started reading this before seeing who wrote it. Something about that dry, austere weight and wonder, caught the attention, seemed known.
Bravo, friend.
I like the way the poem connects with its subject. The “thought” with its nascent, discovering life and flight, “like us” yet in counterpoint to us, is given a life of its own. I like also the way Dave reads this poem.