CREATIVE WRITING: For Gene and Finny...

photo by Larry Knight (2004)

Juniper’s Echo

I spread my wings like sparrows
that dance in the winds of March
and float
through life’s tumultuous storms
in gentle graceful glides
which allow me to hover,
ever softly,
almost motionless
above the fury of the wind-

I am more powerful than air,
more pliable than the reed
that yields to the constancy of a breeze,
more magnificent than the sails
of tall ships
in the harbors of antiquity;
I am ever expanding,
sailing through sky,
carried on the backs of updrafts
that reach zenith heights
only to fall to earth
and rise again-

tickling the limbs of trees that stand for eons,
I can feel the reverberations of leaves that move
with the passage of time,
and the delicate exhale of air,
and the soft shudder of tiny swirls of wind
that dance like electric ice skaters
who move on frozen lakes
in concentric circles
in concert with the completeness of perfection
and sculpt invisible figure eights
from nothingness.

there is beauty in the penitence of silence-
the quiet movement
that laments for my life
crushed
by the tremendous weight of self;
freedom is the most marvelous of feelings,
more wondrous than my elation garnered by
the exaltation by friends,
the detestation by enemies;
there is beauty in silence,
more perfect than man’s quest for absolutism,
more meaningful
than ego tripping on one’s own accomplishments,
more free than wind,
sparrow and time;
more honest than love.

Written by Larry J. Knight, Jr.
Copyright 2005