Several Days Before I Was to Die (Poem)

Several days before I was to die

A white dove flew into my garden.

It had one black spot on its tail,

As if a drop of ink had soiled

Its purity. It looked at me

As birds do: head sideways,

Neck twisted, almost upside down;

Then went the other way, fluttered,

Cooed, straightened, and stared at me

With more than human stillness. Our eyes

Met, and I felt some understanding

Pass between us, as if it sensed

I was to die and felt compassion.

And then I knew that I would live.

Weeks after my miracle

The dove returned, nesting near me,

An ordinary bird. Of course

I hold it dear. But who lived in

Its eyes? Whose compassion sent

The silent thoughts that turned my will?

I know my own imagination

May have spoken through the bird,

Lifting me from death. But surely

What we'll never understand

Far surpasses what we know.

English: The blinking eye of a Masked Lapwing in C...

Raggiana Bird of Paradise, Paradisaea raggiana

The California Condor once numbered only 22 birds,...

The dove knows more than we. And I,

Returned from death, am like a boulder

Lifted up and left upon the shore

By some majestic wave.