And righteousness looks down from the sky – a poem by Dave Mehler

And righteousness looks down from the sky

The three tropicbirds soar and wheel, wheeling to soar, 
wanting speed wanting height—always high, they circle like drones
to get a comprehensive island and lagoon view, which is why
we are here, at the highest point of Aitutaki, dear.

The tropic birds appear to be in orbit around the moon, transfigured,
feathers glowing, lower half of wing and pintail alight,
lit white reflected like moon a softer solar bright, flying below
it still the three appear to be circling in the blue above them a white, 
thin high clouds, a day moon.
                                                       Some tropicbirds are red-tailed—
Leo showed us three long deep red feathers he’d tucked in the visor
of the Black Pearl above the ship’s wheel, piloting us
around the huge quadrangle of a light aqua coraled sand lagoon
to Honeymoon Island—where we spotted a Hawksbill flying—
                   blurred beneath the waves—remember? 


Now it is time we leave this island—
May my love have such porous limits
bleeding over boundaries, through restrictions.
 

Dave Mehler lives in McMinnville, Oregon, and is a truckdriver for a landfill near Portland. He edits the online literary journal Triggerfish Critical Review. His full-length poetry collections are Roadworthy (2020) and Bad Is Bent Good (2025) both from Aubade Publishing. He is currently at work on a manuscript of love poems, Cloud Street.