Poems (Jackson)/Shadows of Birds

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SHADOWS OF BIRDS.
IN darkened air, alone with pain,I lay. Like links of heavy chainThe minutes sounded, measuring day,And slipping lifelessly away.Sudden across my silent roomA shadow darker than its gloomSwept swift; a shadow slim and smallWhich poised and darted on the wall,And vanished quickly as it came;A shadow, yet it lit like flame;A shadow, yet I heard it sing,And heard the rustle of its wing,Till every pulse with joy was stirred;It was the shadow of a bird!
Only the shadow! Yet it madeFull summer everywhere it strayed; ​And every bird I ever knewBack and forth in the summer flew;And breezes wafted over meThe scent of every flower and tree;Till I forgot the pain and gloomAnd silence of my darkened room.Now, in the glorious open air,I watch the birds fly here and there;And wonder, as each swift wing cleavesThe sky, if some poor soul that grievesIn lonely, darkened, silent wallsWill catch the shadow as it falls!

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