At the Frontier

Blackbird

The blackbird sings at
the frontier of his music.
The branch where he sat

 

marks the brink of doubt,
is the outpost of his realm,
edge from which to rout

 

encroachers with trills
and melismatic runs sur-
passing earthbound skills.

 

It sounds like ardor,
it sounds like joy. We are glad
here at the border

 

where he signs the air
with his invisible staves,
“Trespassers beware”—

 

Song as survival—
a kind of pure music which
we cannot rival.

– A.E. Stallings, “Blackbird Etude”

 

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