Brian Purcell # 16 Birds Dissolving

       Birds Dissolving

Where is your ever-present
electronic friend? So many people
making so much noise
only the wind speaks
delicately     birds whispering
as they must to hear each other
in the roar of the furnace
the updraft of hot air
bringing everything up
your electronic friend
notes everything down
 

we watch a film
of our second lives
forgoing our thirst
for the essential life
that passes in the whispers
of birds and clouds
on which the gods shine their shoes
so we can see the faces
they don't want to show
 

hear your electronic friend
all words can be deciphered
because you walk in the past's
shoes, you can know how the ancients
stood, how they spoke, what they said
how they coaxed the gods from the clouds
but they listen only when it suits them
and rarely reply to your calls
 

      they simply stare at the bubbles
      rising to the surface
      of the dark sea
      where you and your brothers
      have fallen
      and hear the whispers of the birds
      dissolving.