another q & a poem

FINGER OF THE WIND

I

(Imitatio Pablo Neruda)

What does the wind want to

shake out of the leaves on a tree?

Do the leaves in a teapot remember

the plantation where they grew?

Does a fallen leaf

from the tree reincarnate?

Do the night birds compose

the music for the dawn chorus?

Why does the bee hover at my window?

Should I let it in?

II

Breeze strums through branches.

Leaves shudder their refrain.

Shadows rustle my floor

in the light from the window.

Now and again, a leaf

breaks off, spins toward ground.

Did the wind want that?

'Yes,' it says. 'Let the life

from the tree spread

from its green seals.

Let it find gold

when it touches wet earth.

Let it reincarnate to

the dawn chorus

composed by a thousand lovers

who watched

through the night,

for the bee that waits

against my window
asking to be let in.'

© Graham Mummery July 2014