The Longest Night

After a long season of traveling, I'm home and happy to be back to Poetry Friday.Wednesday was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Even though the poem I'm sharing today is set in autumn, its meditative quality reminds me of how brief, chilly winter days feel here in Maryland.This poem is by one of our annual daily poem project participants, my friend Patricia Jakovich VanAmburg. It is from her chapbook, WATCHING FOR BIRDS, and is shared with Patricia's permission. LIBRABy Patricia Jakovich VanAmburgIn autumn, theone-legged cardinaltotters at my feedera new  yogidangling mysteries likehis lost legwhat happens insidethe shell -- the tombhow stars are bornand diethe ways we graspfor substance.Equilibrium.Flittingfrom task to task andthe objects of our desire --bridging the poles:the difference betweeneternity and nothing --the sameness ofpoet and bird.Weighing things:my father on two legsone of them artificialmy father on one leghis stump reachingto ground ormy father's eyesafter dialysis andmy mother falling --tripping throughoverfull rooms andthe empty house -- theweight on my shoulder,as I pause by the windowwatching for birds.Laura here: Have you ever been visited by an animal that you feel is a messenger from someone you have lost? My grandmother sometimes sends me spiders. One once startled me when it sat on a framed picture of me and my grandmother together. It took brief residence right over her heart. This is the magic unexpected, the mystery of nature at work in our lives. I love the way that Patricia surprises the reader by sharing such a moment in this poem.Sending you all light and warmth over the winter holidays.