What the Godwit Sees

Jacqueline Hodder is een schrijfster en fervent vogelaar, woonachtig in Naarm/Melbourne. Ze heeft een prijs of ereplek behaald in diverse schrijfwedstrijden, waaronder de Odyssey House, Nillumbik en Peter Carey Short Story Awards, en heeft meerdere boeken gepubliceerd. Jacqueline schrijft graag verhalen die het hart raken.

What the Godwit Sees

1.
I want to see what the Godwit sees with an entanglement of stars to guide me
And I want to join those compass points mapped to the poles within my psyche.

I want to feel the first whispers of wind as I stretch my wings for the leaving
And I want to hear the call of the tundra as it readies itself for the breeding.

I want to slide down the storm’s heavy breath as we skewer the skies together
And I want to know the touch of elastic clouds as we echelon the wildest weather.

What an act of faith it is to lose sight of the shore, to trust the deepness within,
To circle the world seeking shelter believing there is rest in the end.

2.
And as you depart the Austral skies upon a flyway of your own
I wonder if you look down at the long unbroken spine of my home

And think of the changes you’ve seen where human need
(And human greed) press in: Trees torn down
The land turned patchwork green. Giant cities creeping
Along the coast and seeking more land for the taking
Tidal flats disappearing, blue and red and white
Plastic polluting and an algae bloom slowly seeping.

I wonder if I’ll ever know how the stardust of
Our minds diverged. For that is how, I believe
We lost the knowledge of our connection
That set the parameters for the destruction
Across the whole arc of your triangulation.

And what I wish for you little bird
Is that you could see, as you tuck your feet
Under wings that beat and beat and beat:

Stars that brilliant the sky
Shadow blinks as multitudes of birds fly by
A sunrise burning over a vast endless plain
An Earth that breathes a rhythm
Of bounty, not pain.

3.
And in this vanishing dream
Of all the Godwit has seen
I think I want to ask a question here,
A question about why I think we should care
A question that circles back on itself
Are the Godwit’s links dissolving?

Is this the end of her quiet disappearing
As she flies above an Earth
That’s slowly failing?

4.
I want to see what the Godwit sees
As I curl towards an impossible horizon
And pin my hopes on an upturned wind
Locked in a cycle vanishing.

For I would love for all to see:
The Godwit,
A symbol of Earth’s
Despairing,
And a silent witness,
Crying.