She Responded

The birds’ favorite songs you do not hear,

for their most flamboyant music takes place

when their wings are stretched above the 

trees and they are smoking the opium of

pure freedom. It is healthy for the prisoner

to have faith 

that one day he will again move

about wherever he wants:

feel the wondrous grit of life – less structured –

find all wounds, debts stamped, canceled and paid.

I once asked a bird, “How is it that you fly

in this gravity of darkness?”

She responded, “Love lifts me.”

~ Hafiz