Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

A Raptor with a Royal Crown

I was always trying to hear the falcon outside my window
and every day, it did not come.
But today, as thoughts mingled like ponderously plump clouds
I heard its screech like a calling, like a perfect star that’s falling. I was filled with such thrill
I burst out the doors and with pure jubilation I held my arms above my head in
greeting as I watched it circling like a muse from a desert dark sky.
It towered overhead, illuminating my very own pale, yet wondrous eye.
That falcon appeared like an emissary. A raptor with a royal crown.
It was as though it heard my longing and from a mysterious distance it appeared just to say
I could hear you dear darling, here I am all wings and air and sky.
In spirit I was lifted so far from the ground I swear I was a feather and my body unbound.

Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.