Captive Bird - 12 Bars 12 Dreams

                    12 BARS

 

Twelve brazen bars, one frozen lock!

Confined, sublime, an ancient Roc

endures inside a barren cage,

her catacomb in sundown sage.

 

Of former days there is no trace

except displays of fallen grace �"

Twelve dreams, abiding in her place,

are free, inhabit yawning space:

 

               12 DREAMS

 

... of wings unfurled, and seething eyes

that dredge the depths of dawning skies,

devining clouds that cling below,

once ice, dissolved in morning’s glow;

 

... of clutching winds that carry free

above an anguished leaden sea,

dispersing dust of distant stars

midst chunks of chain in slave bazaars;

 

... of swooping to a silent shore

to perch beside the ocean’s roar,

at last to feel the sobbing breeze

message the leaves of rooted trees;

 

... of stalking strays and twilight tramps

within the fog of lighthouse lamps

that blink forlorn through caldron nights

in search of shades of errant Kites;

 

... of darkling vast deserted lands,

with shadowed stones on windswept sands,

where ghosts of Moorish maidens lost

disgorge faint groans in mourning frost;

 

... of blotting out the bloated moon

while feathers beat a banshee tune

and glimmers dance and prance aglow

upon a pearly pale plateau;

 

... of tasting cool torrential rains,

beyond the realm of binding chains,

and sipping freedom they exude

in quite drops of solitude;

 

... of vanquishing a galley crew

aboard a ship in midnight dew,

beneath the pierce of seagulls' screams

that mock the strands of scarlet streams;

 

... of sating once an aching craw

with tearing beak, with ripping claw,

and echoed by an eldritch screech

while feasting on abandoned beach;

 

... of restive thoughts and weary wings

that drift on haze in smoky rings,

obscured within the opal shroud

of her resemblance in the crowd;

 

... of croaking caws in broken rhyme

in winter woe, in summer clime,

while building nests of sundown sage

beyond outside a barren cage.

Reviews

[Valentine]

I really like your way of expressing your thoughts. Well done. Valentine

[marcus]

the captive birds dream, a beautiful lyrical journey!
Is it supposed to be "in quiet drops of solitude" ?

[Terry O'Leary]

Thank you, Marcus...
and yes it should be "quiet"... silly me!
I've made the correction...