The Opera of James Hurst
life is
a strange bird
indeed
never knowing where
it might land
The Scarlet Ibis
fell through the cracks
of my youth
and decades later
might have missed it
still
but it landed like a feather
in my daughter’s hands
and she read it aloud to me
the day it was read aloud to her
we parked in a parking lot
after school
and I sat there staring out the windshield
not seeing the traffic go by
I saw only Doodle
could see him as clear
as a day
that was …
and is
no more
TL