They say we are ants. So many
humans. They say we are sheep
one after another on a hillside.
They say we are birds i.e sweethearts.
And donkeys and snakes and coots.
It’s neat the way we can become
so many others in the menagerie
with different heads, bodies and airs.
It would suit me currently
to be a small owl, silent,
on a miro branch in the dark
and in the morning a lion
on a high dune
facing the sea,
From The Leaf Ride (page 12) by Dinah Hawken
Published by Victoria University Press
Used with the permission of Victoria University Press
This poem has been posted as part of the Tuesday Poem scheme
booksellersnz.wordpress.com 