Themes :
Birds

The ability of birds to fly makes them a common symbol within sacred poetry. They are often used to symbolize the soul, particularly by the Sufi poets.

Poems with the theme of Birds

  For Freedom
  Adyashanti Today I Awoke
  AE (Russell, George William) Star Teachers
  Angelou, Maya Caged Bird
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Simurgh
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Nightingale
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Hawk
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Birds Find Their King
  Ayaz Coming to know You
  Battacharya, Mahendranath Screening its face amongst lotus stalks
  ben Kallir, Eleazar Epithalamium
  Bitkoff, Stewart Captive Bird
  Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
  Brabazon, Francis Once God, that Great Being (from Stay With God)
  Bulleh Shah Your passion stirs me
  cummings, e. e. may my heart always be open to little
  Dickinson, Emily It is a lonesome Glee
  Dogen, Eihei Coming or Going
  Dogen, Eihei One of six verses on snow:
  Emre, Yunus Oh disciple of love, open your eyes
  Ganjavi, Mahsati A world there is for those in love with mines of precious stones
  Giraut de Bornelh Reis glorios / Glorious king
  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von The Second Poem the Night-Walker Wrote
  Granger, Ivan M. First dawn
  Granger, Ivan M. Twelve Ways to Lose Your Head on Maui
  Granger, Ivan M. rock doves mourn
  ha Nagid, Samuel Gazing Through the Night
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) A Crystal Rim
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Geronimo
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) The Source
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Please Call Me by My True Names
  Hawkes, Patricia Isabella
  Hekhalot Hymns (Anonymous) The Throne of Glory Addresses the King
  Herbert, George Prayer (I)
  Hildegard von Bingen Columba aspexit / Sequence for Saint Maximin
  Hirshfield, Jane Standing Deer
  Holmes, Dick Words Call to You
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [48] In the sandalwood forest, there is no other tree (from The Shodoka)
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad Bright are Thy tresses, brighten them even more (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Islam, Nazrul Come silently like the Moon
  Islam, Nazrul Song of Dawn
  Jacobsen, Rolf Guardian Angel
  Jacobsen, Rolf The Silence Afterwards
  Jayadeva You rest on the circle of Sri's breast (from The Gitagovinda)
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) The mountain stands steady in its grandeur
  Khayyam, Omar [7] Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu Song of the Beloved (from The Immortal Friend)
  Kuzminsky, Irina A Sequence of Embraces
  Lawrence, D. H. God is Born
  Lawrence, D. H. Self Pity
  Lee, Li-Young Out of Hiding
  Lee, Li-Young Praise Them
  Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
  Levertov, Denise Illustrious Ancestors
  Li Bai Along the Stream
  Li Bai Self-Abandonment
  Li Bai The birds have vanished into the sky
  Llull, Ramon January (from The Book of the Lover and Beloved)
  Lowitz, Leza Waiting
  Mahadevi, Akka You are the forest
  Masahide When bird passes on
  Mechthild of Magdeburg A fish cannot drown in water
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Effortlessly
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Of the voices of the Godhead
  Merton, Thomas A Psalm
  Merton, Thomas Aubade -- The City
  Merton, Thomas Night-Flowering Cactus
  Merton, Thomas O Sweet Irrational Worship
  Merton, Thomas Stranger
  Merton, Thomas The Sowing of Meanings
  Merwin, W. S. To the New Year
  Meshullam da Piera Song at Dawn
  Milosz, Czeslaw A Song on the End of the World
  Milosz, Czeslaw Love
  Milosz, Czeslaw This Only
  Mirabai I have heard that today Hari will come
  Mirabai The Beloved Comes Home
  Mirabai Unbreakable, O Lord
  Mueller, Lisel Why I Need the Birds
  Oliver, Colin Air
  Oliver, Mary Can You Imagine?
  Oliver, Mary This World
  Plunkett, Joseph Mary I See His Blood Upon the Rose
  Ramsay, Jay At Fintry House
  Ramsay, Jay By Loch Arrow
  Ramsay, Jay In the End: The Beginning
  Ramsay, Jay Infinity and Beyond
  Reninger, Elizabeth Bird Bath
  Rilke, Rainer Maria Ah, not to be cut off
  Rilke, Rainer Maria Dove that ventured outside
  Rilke, Rainer Maria The Second Elegy (from The Duino Elegies)
  Rilke, Rainer Maria What birds plunge through is not the intimate space
  Roethke, Theodore The Right Thing
  Rosenstock, Gabriel Bird in Flight
  Rosenstock, Gabriel Bird in Flight / Éan ar Eite (from The Last Sasquatch)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel Spring With a Thousand Clichés
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (7) Were I a little bird (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (8) Barefoot (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin What I want is to see your face
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Ryokan Caged Birds
  Ryokan The winds have died, but flowers go on falling
  Sanai, Hakim Naked in the Bee-House
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Tavern Haunters
  Shih Shu mountain sounds carry a chill wisdom
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) Outside the door I made but don't close
  Shore, Laura Jan Again
  Stafford, William At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border
  Stafford, William Being a Person
  Stafford, William Today
  Surdas Krishna Awakes
  T'ao Ch'ien I built my hut within where others live
  T'ao Ch'ien Unsettled, a bird lost from the flock
  Takahashi, Shinkichi Destruction
  Taliesin Taliesin's Song of his Origins
  Teasdale, Sara The Fountain
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Frodo's Lament for Gandalf
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Sam's Song of Strength
  Tu Fu Rain, Four Poems: Two Selections
  Tu Fu Spring Passing
  Tulsi Sahib The Rainy Season
  Twichell, Chase Saint Animal
  Vidyapati All my inhibition left me in a flash
  Wright, Richard Leaving its nest
  Wright, Richard The day is so long
  Yeats, William Butler Sailing to Byzantium
Wine