ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR SORROW
The bird that sings a stolen song
leaves echoes of another sound
from a tongue bereft of voice.
‘Pica, pica,’ the magpie cries,
naming its nature in air.
Joytaker, heartbreaker,
what it sees it steals
in glistening desire,
feathered with wildness
to plunder the beauty of things.
The joker in a pack of lies,
it lives on sorrow alone.
About the Author: Geoffrey Heptonstall is the author of a novel, Heaven’s Invention [revised paperback edition Black Wolf, 2017] and a collection of poetry, The Rites of Paradise [Cyberwit 2020].
Image Credit: Australian Magpie courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library
As It Ought To Be 