What is Longing For
Every wind aspires to silence,
and silence for a word to contain it.
The word longs to awaken its joy,
joy for a sadness to deepen it.
My heavy feet long for the swallow’s flight,
my voice for its bright silver whistle.
The swallow’s flight longs for the emptiness
that the bend of its wings displaces.
Wings long to sail past distant storms,
the storm for an end to all its rages.
This world and I long for each other.
I spread my arms and let it blow through.
But what does longing long for?
For an end to longing, and a begin.
Sean Lause is Professor of English at Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio. His poems have appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, The Minnesota Review, The Alaska Quarterly, The Pedestal, Sanskrit, The Saranac Review, and Poetry International.
