Contretemps

CONTRETEMPS is the stirring poem written by South Carolina poet laureate,
Marjory Wentworth.  She graciously offered it for the opening of SKYWARD.

CONTRETEMPS

The the world's dark heart
brought me here,
where time was hiding
in the unleashed sea,
I will stay in this fragile place
of broken trees and wounded birds
that teach me patience as I watch
them fill the bared branches
like clusters of singing leaves.

I will follow
a passing flock of plovers,
who think faster than we can see
when they suddenly turn
and flash their snowy undersides
in one bright act
of collected caring consciousness.

They must have hears a warning
in the lost language of the river wind.

But the silent merlin--
in pursuit
disarmed, confused, and angry--
cackles at his lazy gods.

I see the breath of another god, moving
beneath still wings
of the osprey and the eagle
in flight. I see
countless angels, rising from the river
with open hands
and upturned palms
to hold the wings in place
as the animals glide over
this sanctuary
and pull the sky
             back into the universe.