Odes to Clockwork Birds

Written By Jude King

Who knows a caged bird

Which, after a failed latch, stays?

Before Aegean skies,

Mounting unbound Odysseys


Without prophecies,

Unworn time inks a blindness,

Trepidation’s cell,

Regrets of regretlessness


Only man dithers,

In choosing the chisel’s mark,

Before seizing it,

Phidias doubts he is Phidias


Long silence bestows

The hushed chorus of the If,

Quiet though its words

Blowing without end like wind


Odes of clockwork birds,

Their purpose named before them,

Their song is a hymn,

Do they praise our toy freedoms

Or mock our unwillingness?


Jude King

Jude is a 4th year maths student from St. Mary’s college. His poetry mostly looks to use exaggerated language and mythological and natural imagery to give louder voice to quieter feelings in the human experience. His love of poetry first started with works by Basho and Zen poets.

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