Thursday 23 June 2011

So that birds may drink from me. . .


I am a bowl
a useful vessel

an empty space
waiting to be filled

I am clean and shiny
hollow and expectant

I wait for your need

but I dream of the day
that I may enter the garden

and catch the sweet raindrops
so that birds may drink from me

and when the velvet night gallops
sweeping fleet across the sleeping land

I will hold my circle up to the sky

and capture the silver moon
and all the million stars

dancing and shimmering
on my dark water surface

no longer an empty receptacle
but fulfilling my purpose

gathering starlight and tending to birds


The last line keeps changing, this is third one that has been published! Not to mention the two that weren't. It may well change again. . . I am having trouble settling on one purpose - but then again, perhaps that is the nature of bowls? ;-)

Inspired by the thursday think tank prompt
- to write from the perspective of an inanimate object


© Susannah Bec 2011

23 comments:

Ella said...

This was so beautiful; it made me think of the Velveteen Rabbit! The wish to be useful and loved~

Susannah said...

Thanks Ella. :-)

Rinkly Rimes said...

What a lovely imagining! A bowl yearning to leave the kitchen tap and be filled with starlight.

Susannah said...

Thanks Rinkly Rhymes. . . yes, even bowls have dreams. :-)

annell4 said...

Beautifully done!

Susannah said...

Thanks Annell. :-)

Maggie said...

What a very lovely write.

madhumakhi said...

That was exquisite. The bowl is just like us. We don't just want to fill emptiness; we want to fill it with beautiful things.

Susannah said...

Thanks thingy. :-)

Madhumakhi - yes you are right. :-)

Thanks very much for dropping in. x

Eileen T O'Neill ..... said...

Susannah,

A nice thought, since my bird baths are both overflowing with rain water!

Best wishes, Eileen

bttrflyscar said...

gorgeous

Susannah said...

Eileen and Bttrflyscar, thanks very much. Good to see you. :-)

M. A. S. said...

So very nice. You made this object very likeable. A bowl would only have the simplest needs. Also, my daughter absolutely loves birds.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I so love this one, Susannah, which says so much more than it appears to say. I totally love your last line! And the night galloping across the sleeping land.........and it capturing the moon and stars. Magnificent images and speaks to the reader's wish to be of purpose, like the bowl......just a lovely read.

Anonymous said...

I would leave it as is. Especially the last stanza.

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

What a lovely poem!

Susannah said...

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments, they are much appreciated. x

The Poet said...

I like how you've captured the bowl's perspective.

Nicely done!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely wonderful I really love "Hollow and expectant"

Susannah said...

Thanks very much all. :-)

Anonymous said...

awesome expression.
stay upbeat.

Jo Bryant said...

Such haunting imagery. You are very talented.:)

Susannah said...

Thanks Jingle. :-)

Jo thanks very much for your kind words. :-)

It is good to meet you. x

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