Hymn to the Swamp Willows – a poem by Christopher McCammon

Hymn to the Swamp Willows

Show me, Swamp Willow  
the way of winged migration,
the turning and returning 
of the Yellow Crown.

Teach me the way of your welcome,
wise to trust the heron’s eye
will see the way of what they need,
yielding twig to claw, branch to beak, 
abundant life that fears no loss.
The heron harvests only what will grow
and hold the growing.

Teach me the way of their egress, 
quiet and communion now,
of root to ground and ground to root,
giving self the grace seasons soon
will offer up in new excess.
This is not to wait—a stillness here
will hold the growing.

Show me, Swamp Willow,
the way of winged migration,
the turning and returning
of the Yellow Crown.

Christopher McCammon is a writer and teacher living in coastal Virginia. His philosophical work has appeared in The American Philosophical Quarterly, Ethics, and The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. His poetry has recently been published in Blue Collar Review. With friends inside and outside local prisons and jails, he co-organizes the Tidewater Solidarity Bail Fund.