Left shoulder

My Parrot’s shoulder is my left.

He flies and lands and claws,

Deep in the joint: a twinge – the pain!

My old wound now reopens.

~

Enter LYSANDER, HERMIA.

For love, eloped to forest.

For decency, apart to sleep,

Awaiting to get married.

A miscommunication

Of Oberon and Puck,

Forget-me-not with Eros’ dart,

A drop in Lysa’s eyes.

Lovestruck little Helena

Chased aloof Demetrius.

He abandons her and she alone

Wakes Lysander up.

His love has changed and somehow

He now adores Helena.

A jump to run and chase her.

Just then I hear the crack!

Just then the puzzle solves itself.

Black feathers in my walking path,

An unknown puzzle’s pieces,

Scattered, and I found and kicked

Them far away from sight

For days on end. Till now,

He flew right past my ear

And got reassembled greatly

The puzzle: he, the Parrot.

The spotlight falls upon him:

His sight cannot be missed.

And so to what I ignored before,

Acknowledgement is due...

Oh you, old friend, how come, on stage,

You’re paying now a visit?

I thought that life grew lighter,

But Parrot, so short-hearing,

To hear of weight and weightlessness

– knows not of “not” and “less” –

He wears his polished plumage

And flies straight back to me.

He squawks and reproduces

What he heard from others.

Whenever I set to run

He gasps and claws in terror.

Oh, what a lot of effort now

For even as a porte-de-bras

To raise my left arm high.

The spotlight, though, is now on us:

Ignoring is impossible.

Enforced I’m to acknowledge him:

I lock my eyes with yours.

Upon your claws I claw myself –

So warm still from my blood.

My arms transforming into wings,

Now you and I are one.

Together: turns and lifts and dips

And pas-de-chats and jetés...

You were my fears, all amassed.

With you, now, I’m immortal.

Laughter and applause, they cast

Inebriating magic.

Like yeast they rise and grow

To fill entirely my cosmos.

The backstage empty, only four

Half-gods remain on stage,

Who fight, who love, and lo

Behold: one of them is me!

~~

When closure wrapped this show,

This month and this cold winter,

Today, a lovely Sunday,

I rest in my big garden.

As one walks one’s own dog, thus I

Have brought my Parrot out.

He flies and plays with daffodils

That dance as light as air.

Parrot, I confess to you,

That now we're back together,

There’s nothing left to fear:

For you were all my fears amassed,

And now I keep you tame.

~~~