Thursday Poem - A Kite Is a Victim

A kite is a victim you are sure of.

You love it because it pulls

gentle enough to call you master,

strong enough to call you fool;

because it lives like a desperate

trained falcon in the high sweet air

and you can always haul it down

to tame it in your drawer.

A kite is a fish you have already caught

in a pool where no fish come,

so you play him carefully and long,

and hope he won't give up,

or the wind die down.

A kite is the last poem you've written,

so you give it to the wind,

but you don't let it go

until someone finds you

something else to do.

A kite is a contract of glory

that must be made with the sun,

so you make friends with the field

the river and the wind,

then you pray the whole cold night before,

under the travelling cordless moon

to make you worthy and lyric and pure.

Leonard Cohen

(from The Spice-box of Earth)