nimble torrent
Whirlybird, whirlybird,
Spinning in the sky like a secret word.
Round and round, you twirl, you whirl,
What’s inside you, do you know? Do you know?
I bet it’s not a man in there.
No, it’s something bigger, with more hair.
Whirlybird, whirlybird,
Up you go, up so high,
I know I can’t catch you,
But I can still look up and try.
And when I think about that sky,
I think about how it never stops being.
It just keeps on going, even when it’s red,
It’s always there, over my head.
-# (Sometimes it looks so sad...)
I asked once, I asked so loud:
“Why do we fly? Is it the clouds?”
My mama laughed and said, “Oh sweet,
We don’t know why, and some of us are still finding our feet!”
But I think there’s more to it,
Than just flying in a straight line.
Why do we all want to be so tall?
Why do we want to touch the sky, all the time?
-# (Is it because we just want to give it a hug?)
Is it because we think it’ll tell us things?
Like why the trees grow and why the birds sing?
I think the whirlybird is just like me,
Spinning on my shoes or on my knees,
Trying to reach what can’t be caught,
Maybe it’s the thinking, or maybe it’s not.
Whirlybird, you don’t stop,
You just fly, and spin, and pop!
I see you up there in your twirly twirl,
And I think maybe you’re not just a whirly whorl.
Maybe you’re looking for the same thing I do...
To understand what is sky, and what is you.
Why do we always look up so high?
Is it because we think we can fly?
I think it's because we're just a little lost,
And we want to see the way,
-# (um)
from where we were tossed.
-# (Does that rhyme?)
So I'll stand here, and look at the sky,
And think of all the whirlybirds passing by.
I might not understand, not yet, not all,
But I’ll keep looking up,
Maybe that’s the point after all.
-# (Oh, I can’t rhyme with the same word twice? That’s not nice.)
keen ember