Why not call the
moment of certainty, the fleeting moment
when everything that ever lived is right
behind my pounding heart, why not call
that moment: Beat-of-the-thousand-wings-
of-God-inside-my-chest.
~ Mark Nepo, from The Way Under The Way: The Place of True Meeting
Notes: Bird gif via Your Eyes Blaze Out
I hear a sound, reverberating, like a drum with poor memory.
A thing that the wind thumps again and again
against some other object the earth is holding tight…
The sound of a slow heart heard through a stethoscope.
— Tomas Tranströmer, from “Start of a Late Autumn Novel,” The Half-Finished Heaven
Notes: Poem Source – Hidden Sanctuary. Photo – Precious Things
The musician became a bird lover at the aviary. He tells a story of holding a dying finch one day and feeling overwhelmed by its tiny heartbeat. He had never studied a bird so closely before, never observed its delicate and immaculate plumage, and the experience altered him.
~ Kyo Maclear, Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
Notes:
I heard on the radio that
we creatures have about a billion and a half heartbeats to use.
Voles and birds use theirs fast…
while whales and elephants are slower.
This morning I’m thinking of
recounting mine to see exactly where I am…
~ Jim Harrison, from “Sunday Discordancies” in In Search of Small Gods
Photo: Cover of Pijn via amespeciale
Live & Learn 