Wishing
unfinished

When a white crow
can just escape death
and scramble up to fly,
is that a kind of sign –
good or bad for who?

Let’s say: never mind,
or may we live together
on our brave best behavior?

On a bramble branch
a buzzard chick is listening
as if life is not clutched in a fist.

Life is reciprocal; we can perceive
a glimpse of the complete picture.
We’re dancing on toes or firm feet,
our nimble fingers will reach the distance.
For eternity we can participate in bits of that and this.

Poet and novelist Arno Bohlmeijer writes in English and Dutch, is the winner of a PEN America Grant 2021 and has been published in renowned journals in five countries, including Universal Oneness: An Anthology of Magnum Opus Poems from around the World, 2019.