Too Many Nightingales

13 July 2026

https://poems.culturing.net/2026/07/13/too-many-nightingales/

What was the meaning of these nightingales
come to haunt my sight, until I awoke
still alone but healed fresh with new vigor?
How could they know me, and how, after traveling
farther than any man should alone, could I not
at least pause to hear their complaints? They sang
sadly of tragic dreams, of love's failing refrain,
the impossible yearnings of an empty heart. But then
something did start to stir, to imagine itself
full of life. So these birds sang together,
and it was a beautiful, tragic song, that fell short
at the moment of impact. I will not forget it.
When next I hear nightingales sing, I will pause
and smile...and walk on.