
Birds – (c)Michael J. Whelan
Days of Peace
There weren’t many birds
in the hills of South Lebanon
when I was a peacekeeper,
they were never a feature
of the historic landscape
that I can remember
except for the vultures
circling up high on summer thermals,
the smaller creatures had all been killed
by the time the spring had ended,
nothing to stir poetics in a future poet.
But there were times during days of peace
when villages came to life
with the call to prayers from ancient minarets
when the local people spoke
of a recent Barhah – a gift from God,
the moment when they personally encountered
a new born child and the Adhan was recited –
the first words a baby hears
(a call to prayers whispered into the left ear),
and I think now how abundant the skies must have been
before the crusades
and how many times since
a new born child
has encountered that same call to prayers.
Michael J. Whelan
Published in the contemporary Irish poets’ feature in issue 22 of Rochford Street Review – July 2017
see https://rochfordstreetreview.com/2017/07/06/michael-j-whelan-five-poems/
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