Fats here.
For this week’s Poetry Friday, I’m sharing a random find from the Poetry Foundation. The poem appeared in the poetry collection, Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art. May this poem inspire you to spread your wings and soar high.
Poetry Friday round-up is hosted by Erin at The Water’s Edge!
Your World
Your world is as big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the skyline encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze,
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!
What a wonderful use of analogy – the bird huddled in its nest then spreading its wings. I’ve been travelling quite a bit this year so can relate on a literal level to the idea of widening horizons, though of course we can do just that closer to home by trying new things, taking on new challenges.
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Oh, this is an inspiring poem! I love the imagery of huddling in the nest and then soaring with rapture. That first line resonates with me, reminding me that our choices can limit our lives or expand them. Even when the nest feels cozy, rather than limiting or imprisoning, it’s still important to look beyond and see what the horizon might offer. Thanks so much for sharing this.
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I love this poem. The journey from corner nest to horizon encircling the sea pulls me right in. Thank you for finding and sharing this gem today.
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Love this so much! Sometimes I want a wide world, other times I need the smallness of the nest. Thank you. xo
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I have this book, Fats. Thanks for sharing such an inspirational poem, the fledging desires to take wing. I love the beautiful rhyming, too.
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This is beautiful! I was just commenting on the phrase “museum wings,” thinking about the double meaning it implies to me, on PF Host Erin’s blog. And then I came here to read this lovely winged poem. Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing this poem. It has a good rhythm and reminds us that sometimes the barriers we perceive in our lives are of our own making (and thankfully, some of it we can get out of)
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Thanks for sharing this poem. I like the rhythm of it and it reminds us that sometimes our perceived barriers are of our own making (and thankfully we can work on getting ourselves out of it!)
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Love this so much. Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing this poem. I love the metaphor of the bird expanding its wings with us widening our own experience in seeking new things–whether they are near or far.
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Beautiful Fats, I’m ready to take off, thanks!
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