Holding St. Kevin’s Hand

I see it in the dim morning light. 

A hand, held aloft through the window

of a monk’s narrow stone cell.

And nestled in the hand,

a blackbird curled into a nest

holding three eggs.

Wisps of straw and grass

thread through the fingers

of the steady hand suspended

as if independent of body or mind.

And yet, I know on the other side

of that humble stone wall,

an arm reaches through the window,

attached to a shoulder that aches

with its light but persistent burden.

And above the shoulder,

a neck supports the head

that made the choice

to keep the hand aloft,

and in that head are eyes

that haven’t closed since the day

the bird landed on the open palm.

There he meditates day and night,

his only job to be the safe place

the bird has chosen.

And on this day, when I see the hand,

and detect just the slightest tremble,

my only job is to cup my own hand under his,

and hold the hand that holds the bird

that protects the egg until it can fly.

What more can I do?

What less?

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Gloria Heffernan

Gloria Heffernan’s Exploring Poetry of Presence won the 2021 CNY Book Award for Nonfiction. She is author of the poetry collections: Fused , What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, and Peregrinatio: Poems for Antarctica.