The Woodpecker

This woodpecker
Ra-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
Laughingly calls, "Join me!"
I struggle to see it

Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye
I catch a glimpse,
Black and white and speckled feathers
Crested with wisdom and fire
Mischievously darting amond the still-bare trees
A flash of color and light and motion
and gone

I've seen a woodpecker
Dull and dead, stuffed and posed in a quiet room
I've read of its life, its habits
Its food, its home, its passions

But I seek this bird in the wild, free,
Flashing, vital, amazing

And so I go walking in the woods now and then
Just in case.

Jude / April 2009
Dedicated to my fellow seekers and staff at the Vibrance Enlightenment Intensive
Held April 2009, Gove Hill Retreat Center, Thetford, VT

A quick poem I composed as part of our Monday morning re-integration