YOUR STRENGTH RETURNS
Your strength returns
towards nightfall
the gaze of an old heron
emerges again in your eyes,
on your fingers
and toes, tipped as the talons
of a falcon;
while a cosmic solitude
forces you to
curl up into a ball,
becoming like a friend,
a second soul,
that thousand-year gaze
now encompasses
everything within itself –
all that’s ancient is so young,
so young!
fires alight
on the other side of the river
mosquitoes dance above your head,
a wild dog howls,
and having once again become
your elder sibling
the wind breathes far
above the reeds,
secretly you continue
as the peregrinations of a heron
from that place
never finished with departure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mehis Heinsaar (b. 1973) is an Estonian poet, prose writer and essayist. He writes fairy tales for adults and has published two poetry collections with a third forthcoming. He draws much of his inspiration from Estonian nature, philosophy, the life of the underworld and the Baltic Sea.