Poetry by Stacie Eirich
This morning, I woke early, stepped out
when eastern light was rising. A cool breeze
brought goosebumps. Two blue finches
flew fast, diving and calling from tree to tree.
The thick hanging branches of palms swayed,
hiding flashes of feathers beneath green tents.
The rumble of motors began to whir as the hour
turned, the roar of engines breaking through air
as titanium wings soared above, over and over
hulking giants of steel passing in dawn’s light.
The day bright with golden sun, the noise
of so much life, so much commotion.
My heart beats small, silent, my ears unable
to stifle the sounds throbbing around me.
I go back inside, sip my coffee, read a few lines.
Listen to the sounds muted, watch the light creep
over the trees, the rocks, the pool’s edge.
Watch how the water almost stills, its flow
small and constant, a moving blue-green mirror.
Feel how time moves slowly, how in this space
there is only air and light, cool and warmth,
flowing water and rough-hewn rock.
How they live and breathe in the midst
of our human clutter and noise and need
of so much, of more, of everything.
How the only thing they need is the rising
of rays to ascend heavenward— how the branches
reach the light, fingers of fronds dancing
beside a blue jay’s quick winged perch.
How when I step outside once more, my fingers
can’t quite reach, touch, my skin can’t feel
this brightness. My heart moored elsewhere, my soul
seeking peace in a place that can’t be mine. Even with
all this light, all this life— all these things.
What is enough? I wish to be a bird, to fly and call,
fleeing and free, quick and light as dawn, rising
with silver-tipped wings into golden sunlight. Here
then gone — bright, beautiful. A small burst
of feathered joy in golden sunlight, a brush of dawn, a rush
of feathers, a voice ringing loud, blue-silver streak
of a bright, exuberant heart.
Stacie Eirich is a mother of two, caregiver, and poet. Her book, Hope Like Sunlight (Bell Asteri Publishing, 2024), is an illustrated memoir benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Her poems have recently been published in The Amazine, The Bluebird Word, and Synkroniciti Magazine. She lives in Texas. Visit her at www.stacieeirich.com
