Prompt: write a poem that has the same first line as another poem. *

 

 

 

 

 

Bonfire with Wild Geese

 

You do not have to be good

you do not have to be strong, or brave

you only have to drag the winter’s fallen wood

all day long to the hungry fire

let the smoke paint you with the smells of childhood campfires

let the exploding beer bottles rocket like gunfire

See the faces in the flames,

forgive yourself

See the hungry orange element devour the dead,

the wasted things

forgive yourself

See the wild geese floating tranquil beyond the fire,

unafraid, disinterested

bowing down for waterweed

rising up to be

just what they are.

 

*This first line and title are from Mary Oliver‘s poem “Wild Geese”