
Poetry Falcon
the delivery of a love letter from mother to daughter

At 200 miles an hour, the speed
of Falcon, my poem may reach you
before you even can know
I’ve written it for you.
Of course, you have no way
of knowing that as soon
as the ink dried to the touch,
I neatly rolled the paper
into a tiny scroll and
fastened it upon Falcon’s neck
and now this stalwart bird
has alighted upon your windowsill
where you sit looking for
meaning amongst the stars,
your gaze distant and strained.
Falcon surprises you.
You deftly remove the scroll,
reading silently—your
lips moving with the rhythm
of each foot, each word, each line.
When you look up, Cassiopeia proudly
appears across the night sky.
Touching Falcon’s soft feathers tenderly,
you understand now that maternal love can
take millennia to consummate.
Not all daughters feel loved
while her mother shares
the earth with her. Sometimes
it takes a fall from a great height,
death, even, to fulfill a love
greater than any ordinary words.
It takes this poem, from Mother
to Daughter, written upon
Time’s scroll, and tucked into the
soft neck of Falcon who finds you
among the 8 billion others
currently walking the earth.