Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: Two Waxwings

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
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By Maik Strosahl

A photo and a short story are going around the internet that focuses on the deaths of two cedar waxwings outside the photographer’s window.
    For me, the point of the post was that even within nature we can see examples of wildlife experiencing grief.
    This week, my family have experienced the loss of an uncle on both my father’s and my mother’s sides of the family. Those losses had me looking again at that post, at today’s poem, and at a wonderful comment Roger Owens made on my January 4 post, “The Old Folks Place.” Roger quoted C.S. Lewis as saying of our loss, “The sadness now is part of our happiness then, the happiness then is part of the sadness now.”
    Here is to those whom we miss because of happy times remembered. Here is to the sadness that tells us we can still feel their presence.
    My heart goes out to Roger in his recent loss, and to those in my own family who mourn Uncle Frank and Uncle Irwin.

Two Waxwings

–Inspired by the photo

Two waxwings,
playing the winds,
high on life and holly berries,
spiraling through the cedars
until the lead kept going
into the promise of the sky,
beyond its abrupt end,
falling and folding feathers
one last time.

The latter flit down,
nudging its playmate,
pecking to wake
the spirit silenced,
finally laying also
on its back,
joining its companion
in stilled flight.

I watched,
disturbed by the
crashing thump
upon my window,
frozen in their tragedy.

Don’t ever leave me,
my love.
Don’t ever leave.

Copyright © 2023 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there.