Flight of the Ibis, The Cosmos, Awakening & Other Poetry

By Daniel Leach

Featured in New Lyre Summer 2022

Flight of the Ibis 

In the golden light of the late Spring evening, 
A boy is dreaming on the backyard swing, 
Swinging and dreaming, as over the treetops 
And rooftops his infinite spirit is flying. 
Over the city, the church bell is ringing 
A song that is old as his dreaming soul, 
Reaching out into the gathering twilight. 

Silently, out of the deepest moon shadow, 
The spacecraft emerges as if from the dead 
To see from the darkness the dazzling blue earthrise, 
Like creation itself, comes the beautiful thought. 
And the words of the sages, like silent vibrations 
Are echoing over vast spaces and time, 
And it matters not whether the scene is repeated 
Somewhere far away we cannot yet see, 
For here is a soul broken free from its shackles 
One moment, and like a god gazing 
On the place and the time of its own incarnation!