Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Contest: THROUGH AESTHETICA
Date: 21July 2026
Night mantled every copse in velvet's umbrage,
Till silence gathered plicatures of air;
The moon distilled its argent effluence through leaves,
And darkness mastered the susurrant art of prayer.
A solitary moth unseamed the cerulean hush;
The brook rehearsed forgotten silver speech.
Earth wore an almost sacramental nap of shade,
While dawn arrived too reverent to breach.
I hear the starlings' song,
mighty murmuration,
soaring through the ages.
Their secrets undisclosed,
naught to revered sages.
I hear the starlings' song,
mere memories of past
journeys through boundless sky,
leaving charmed contrails
rewarding to the eye.
I hear the starlings' song,
shushing – wonders promised –
solemn susurrant tones
whispering to me, "Hush",
seductive pheromones.
I hear the starlings' song
as they blacken the skies
with their mighty number,
sonant, viva voce,
murmur to me, "Slumber".
Day-after-day the widow
"listens out for the ordinary"
and hears only susurrant voices
until deafness overcomes her
©Kathryn McLoughlin Collins
April 21, 2012
Inspired by Jan Oskar Hansen's "To Be Alone"
Behind sheer curtains
Golden rays sing the day’s pulse
Grandeur to the beat of life
The ballad bows proud
Whistling in rhythm tango
Bird’s susurrant calm weeping
Hills and valleys hum
Sweet fields in lavender shades
Under a blue canopy
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