In this week’s Poetry Friday segment, KNAU listener and our dedicated seasonal poet Rob Bettaso returns to the airwaves with an original poem about autumn. Rob often looks to nature for inspiration. And in this week’s poem, Two Tired Birds, he explores the idea of beauty and its reflection.
RB: Once I started down the road of examining notions of beauty, whether in the natural world or those created by humans, I got to thinking about one of the archetypes of beauty; namely the figure from Greek mythology, Narcissus.
I think probably a lot of people associate the name ‘Narcissus’ with a much more modern concept of self-absorption, particularly as it’s been applied in the sciences of psychology and psychiatry.
So in a way, the cycle is complete in that humans admire nature’s beauty, and in the myth, are even transformed from being human into being a classic element of nature’s beauty itself, namely a flower.
Two Tired Birds
Reflected in the stream,
Shimmering gleaming:
Autumn's swaying leaves.
Not so long ago,
Their flat dull green
Spoke to me,
Of being tired,
But still, only midpoint in the race;
Not yet, that brilliant, second wind.
Then too, the limbs of the trees
With their old foliage,
Held up the sky.
Allowed so many birds
To rest, to hide,
On their southward quest.
On one particular late Summer day,
Weary and well-worn, I leaned
Upon a weathered rock,
To watch, two kinds of warblers
In tattered, still bright plumage,
Pause, restore themselves:
The Painted Redstart, the Red-faced Warbler,
Both as stunning as Fall's colors,
but still in Summer,
Regaining their strength,
Preparing for the next leg
Of their cycle.
On that day,
A few weeks back,
I was lucky to see them still.
And now, I find myself,
Staring into flowing water,
Mirroring the sky's golden leaves
And wondering, was Narcissus
Really entranced by his own reflection,
Or perhaps, he simply admired the bright pebbles beneath the surface?
(Music: Haydn, Icon Vol. 1)
Poetry Friday is produced by KNAU's Gillian Ferris. If you have an idea for a segment, drop her an email at Gillian.Ferris@nau.edu.
