'Half chick'
Briefs, E. Castendyk
Commonweal: 522 HALF CHICK A FABLE FOR BEDE GRIFFITHS & SACCIDANANDA ASHRAM ¦ PERCHED ON a SPIRE to point the wind,...
...He knew that originally and deep into die Middle Ages what he stood forbad bees whole...
...And revolving confidently towards morning, Half Chick settled down to what he admitted would be & longisb wait...
...He drew a deep breath, rose on tiptoe and spread his flittering wing as far as he could...
...East-West...
...f O&k was too miserable to be appreciative...
...He recalled being cast in the late Renaissance, & modest exemplar of the new technology, and a few dozen years later, gilded and brightly in place for the blessing of a little baroque church, becoming a permanent fixture of Valverde del Rio...
...Fixing Peter with a red eye, he wheezed, *"JVd wings, two — where's ray other...
...His sleep turned fitful and was streaked with eerie or angry dreams...
...A predawn breeze swung Half CJrick gently around to the East...
...Costendyk Briefs is a translator and poet...
...Suddenly its dreadful meaning froze him in Us circuit m if ^6 winds, down to the slightest breeze, had died: he, Half Chick, was only half there...
...Half Chick woke excited and comforted by the old saint's consternation...
...Ahaaaaaaaaaa/'he crowed in his best trombone, "East...
...Despite his obvious limitations, Half Chick was no fool...
...He blessed Half Chick and rushed back to his chair to think...
...Half Chick was pi^Wflf^iy offke.and philosophic about the restrictions of nifi range, ftten-iochcirck.VvTiat had robbed Wraofhisnight'sslee...
...Just wait, he told himself, some* where what's missing will be found...
...mkT usual morning ^oosae^^ m^a^jSfifewwt • 4 October 1985: 523 Right side of the brain-leftside...
...At the fiesta that followed the ceremonies, he was a sensation, his silhouette sedately revolving against the sky/ Half Chick realized {hat his deformity was nothing innate...
...Takes diem all for & world to be round...
...What about bira...
...How it Had later become so one-sided as to conceive of lent is such half terms he could not imagine, but he was convinced that somewhere his missing foot, wing, side of the brain waited to return to him...
...S? Hglaedtosa«tdjanrffhiffin4hec>cnrc*mbdow^ hwg «*ht odjer young cocks, all dearly out of the <p^iJ tion...
...He knew from history that whenever Peter was properly shamed, sootier of later he did something about it...
...Not that he was fonely — though he would have bea*.i...
...Peter sensed the pain behind his visitor's lack of manners...
...E. CASTEN&YK BRIEFS (E...
...For decades, Half Chick dreamt of wholeness...
...Easily upset by &e voice of aay rooster, he was stunned by die unmistakable tone of accusal...
...Hehadseenalotof history and heard a great deal more...
...She has written'jbr the Saturday Review, New Yorket, and the Christian Science Monitor...
...Tw»^jug$, TWOp* 5 over and over, until the great bronze statue of the Fisherman with die worn-shiny toe rose from nis seat to investigate...
...years crawled past, sharpening rater than rounding Ms ever more embarrassing iopsidedness, lie grew restive...
...By now, an exhausted Half Chick was clinging to the stone curls of a saint on the portico roof...
...South-North...
...His foot was soldered to a brass bail which lopped a lodjgreased and insetted in the spire, This aAo«f4iNp^fe^ lie^QttiUbte winds ai?d indicate to the worf*«fih|^3|*#P: ^ibf^to^og...
...I ought to know...
...But as the...
...Shoving aside a heavy leather curtain and unlocking the bronze door, Peter emerged into the chilly moonlight...
...Commonweal: 522 HALF CHICK A FABLE FOR BEDE GRIFFITHS & SACCIDANANDA ASHRAM ¦ PERCHED ON a SPIRE to point the wind, Half Chick pensively revolved on his one foot and spread his Jkw£ had just ventured up the steeple with bnish and cup of go!4 paint so UiafSan Pedro's portending rooster would be fofme feather jtox ti»e coming holy days...
...He had paid scant attenttontohisniclai^me...
...One midnight, beside himself, Half Chick dreamt he clanged Ms wing on the roof of Saint Peter's ha Rome, snMtftg «, lips *o# of m long...
Vol. 112 • October 1985 • No. 17
