Wheeling across the sky,
a murmuration of starlings and
the souls of the dead
to defend the stars
as they fall,
turning on that great wheel
of the chariot.
(Swing low,
sweet)ness,
fill my mouth with words
of wonder and delight
that they may sing to the sparrows
and the great horned owl
as he passes judgment on all we have done before.
Will this circle be unbroken in the time we have left?
Will our hours and minutes
lay across the calendar pages, clean and pristine
as the January snow and the lambs of springtime
that skip merrily to slaughter?
Shall we gather at the river- the long road home to glory?
What shall we forsake,
for goodness sake,
at the rising of the wind?
thecourseofourseasons 
Gorgeous. Absolutely love this poem.
Fantastic images you have created and shared with us in this poem. I love your use of questioning to move the poem. Cheers!
love the image of the murmuration of starlings… happy new year
lovely workings going on here Kathleen – rhythmical and flowing effortlessly
I admire the opening verses with strong images:
a murmuration of starlings and
the souls of the dead
to defend the stars
as they fall
Good to see you Kathleen ~ Happy New Year ~
Wow, you’re flying high! ~ Good work. Happy New Year!
Well done… need some work on the “present tense”, and “past tense” 🙂 (my common problem, plus I’ve been called the “Comma-Kazie” because of mu usu of ” commas”
I enjoyed reading your work 🙂
You put me right there contemplating the murmuration of the stalings.. (a poem in itself almost).. what can the future bring?– maybe we can be told by those birds …still we are early in the year.
Wow. This one took my breath away. A gorgeous write! I too love the murmuration of starlings, and the great wheel turning. As to the blank pages of the calendar, I have already messed up all the Monday squares of January, trying to figure out my Monday feature at PU. LOL. I go thru a lot of calendars this way.
A poetic questioning filled with beautiful imagery to ponder on what the new year holds in store for each and everyone of us. Happy New Year!
First of all, I really like that phrase ‘murmuration of starlings.’ And such wonderful images as the turning of the great wheel on the chariot….and what will happen with the hours and minutes that we have left? Hopefully it is not time to gather at the river yet! Happy New Year, Kathleen.