Poems (Katz)/The dove

by Elizabeth Katz

THE DOVE

It lay in the street wounded and bleeding
 The passers-by scarcely heeding
The piteous appeal of Love.
 Baring its breast as the dove
(To awaken the sleeper!)

The dove cannot ever stay,
 But with the noon of day,
Will fly from whence her healing came—
 And there are no more lame.

So dear children in the street
 Skipping along with careless feet,
Let us minister of our love
 To the wounded stricken dove.

What the dove desired to do
 Was to awaken me and you,
To lift our hearts in skyward flight
 Away from the dark tempestuous night.

And for this the dove her breast did bare
 To meet the storm and tempest there,
To save! to save! through love's appeal,
 And the perfect to reveal.