Make A Flight

You hand me a photograph
Of the one who has died
Separating it from your box of memories
And I handle it gently
In one hand
As if I hold his body there
As if he is a small bird
Just deceased, still warm
The feathers light against my skin.

And at the appropriate moment
I will pass his body back to you
Hand you the bird
As the Japanese proffer a gift
Let you take the photograph again
Return to that moment
And you tell me something of his story
With background elements
Revealing foreground form
Let the air produced of memory
Beat his wings anew
Make a flight in your mind
Make a flight in mine.

James Piers Taylor 9/7/2007 - London

IMAGE: To Every Seed His Own Body (2006) by Polly Morgan