Meaning
The seagull flies. Another day at the office.
Eyes scanning the ocean surface
for the slightest sign of fish.
Trust me when I tell you there is no meaning in this
for the gull. It is work as usual.
The daily grind. More instinct than thought.

Ah, but to the watcher, there is meaning.
Freedom. Flight. Hope. A sign, at the very time
it is needed. A revelation perhaps.
None of it in the gull’s wings.
All of it in our minds, hungry
for meaning while the seagull
searches for fish.

About this poem

Written to the photograph, which I took with Joe Hawthorne, artist, writer and friend in far away Scotland in mind. The book Jonathan Livingston Seagull has special meaning to him. Taken with no idea what I would write to it.

Tom