{"id":2156,"date":"2013-03-22T11:29:30","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T15:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=2156"},"modified":"2013-03-22T11:29:30","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T15:29:30","slug":"swifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/swifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Swifts"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Anne Stevenson<\/p>\n

Spring comes little, a little. All April it rains.<\/p><\/div>\n

The new leaves stick in their fists; new ferns still fiddleheads.<\/div>\n
But one day the swifts are back. Face to the sun like a child<\/div>\n
You shout, ‘The swifts are back!’<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sure enough, bolt nocks bow to carry one sky-scyther<\/div>\n
Two hundred miles an hour across fullblown windfields.<\/div>\n
Swereee swereee<\/em>. Another. And another.<\/div>\n
It’s the cut air falling in shrieks on our chimneys and roofs.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next day, a fleet of high crosses cruises in ether.<\/div>\n
These are the air pilgrims, pilots of air rivers.<\/div>\n
But a shift of wing, and they’re earth-skimmers, daggers<\/div>\n
Skilful in guiding the throw of themselves away from themselves.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quick flutter, a scimitar upsweep, out of danger of touch, for<\/div>\n
Earth is forbidden to them, water’s forbidden to them,<\/div>\n
All air and fire, little owlish ascetics, they outfly storms,<\/div>\n
They rush to the pillars of altitude, the thermal fountains.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is a legend of swifts, a parable \u2014<\/div>\n
When the Great Raven bent over earth to create the birds,<\/div>\n
The swifts were ungrateful. They were small muddy things<\/div>\n
Like shoes, with long legs and short wings,<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

So they took themselves off to the mountains to sulk.<\/div>\n
And they stayed there. ‘Well,’ said the Raven, after years of this,<\/div>\n
‘I will give you the sky. You can have the whole sky<\/div>\n
On condition that you give up rest.’<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Yes, yes,’ screamed the swifts, ‘We abhor rest.<\/div>\n
We detest the filth of growth, the sweat of sleep,<\/div>\n
Soft nests in the wet fields, slimehold of worms.<\/div>\n
Let us be free, be air!’<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

So the Raven took their legs and bound them into their bodies.<\/div>\n
He bent their wings like boomerangs, honed them like knives.<\/div>\n
He streamlined their feathers and stripped them of velvet.<\/div>\n
Then he released them,\u00a0Never to Return<\/em><\/em><\/div>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/em>Inscribed on their feet and wings. And so<\/div>\n
We have swifts, though in reality, not parables but<\/div>\n
Bolts in the world’s need: swift<\/div>\n
Swifts, not in punishment, not in ecstasy, simply<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sleepers over oceans in the mill of the world’s breathing.<\/div>\n
The grace to say they live in another firmament.<\/div>\n
A way to say the miracle will not occur,<\/div>\n
And watch the miracle.<\/div>\n
\n

–Read at St. Lydia’s on Sunday, March 17, 2013<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Anne Stevenson Spring comes little, a little. All April it rains. The new leaves stick in their fists; new ferns still fiddleheads. But one day the swifts are back. Face to the sun like a child You shout, ‘The swifts are back!’   Sure enough, bolt nocks bow to carry one sky-scyther Two hundred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2156"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2158,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions\/2158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}