A shifting net of birds swelling
over the pasture, turning, an amoeba,
now dark and granular as dying, now
an invisible, a thin fluid slicing light.
Folding, the winged black knot splits.
Plunges. My heart tumbles in the dark, and
against the backlit sky I am a bird—one of
a crew of sparrows, a weightless ha'pennys-
worth.
We fly bunched, then abruptly string ourselves
parallel on threads of phone wires,
vibrating as a thousand voices hum
through our beads of claws. And off again.
My retina crowds with flight patterns
inking the hollow where wind has sucked
away, leaving the sky a great
stillness. God. These are not
words of birds. Some cries are black
beyond language. I feel, clotting
on my tongue like a shadow feather, a sparrow
is falling. A sparrow is falling.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
