Several Days Before I Was to Die

October 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is belief in the supernatural.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem about an apparent miracle:

Several days before I was to die

A white dove flew into my garden.

It had one black spot on its tail,

As though a drop of ink had soiled

Its purity. It looked at me

As birds do: head sideways,

Neck twisted, almost upside down;

Then went the other way, fluttered,

Cooed, straightened, and stared at me

With more than human stillness. Our eyes

Met, and I felt some understanding

Pass between us, as though it sensed

I was to die and felt compassion.

And then I knew that I would live.

Weeks after my miracle

The dove returned, nesting near me,

An ordinary bird. Of course

I hold it dear. But who lived in

Its eyes? Whose compassion sent

The silent thoughts that turned my will?

I know my own imagination

May have spoken through the bird,

Lifting me from death. But surely

What we'll never understand

Far surpasses what we know.

The dove knows more than we. And I,

Returned from death, am like a boulder

Lifted up and left upon the shore

By some majestic wave.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/dove.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Belief in the Supernatural

10/22: Janae

10/23: Natalie

10/24: Happy Fifth Anniversary

10/25: Martin

10/26: Several Days Before I Was to Die