• DONATE
  • Join now
  • Log In
RSL on FacebookRSL on TwitterRSL on InstagramRSL on YouTubeSubscribe
The Royal Society of Literature
  • Home
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Council
    • Staff
    • Jobs
  • Join & support
    • Digital Events Pass
    • Membership
    • 1820 Club
    • Become a Patron
    • Literature Matters Supporters’ Circle
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • A legacy to Literature
    • Volunteer
    • Thank You
  • What’s on
  • Library
    • RSL Review Magazine
    • Research
    • The Literature Matters Hub
  • RSL Fellows
    • Fellows
    • RSL Open
    • 40 Under 40
    • Honorary Fellows
    • Fellowship Election
    • Fellows Remembered
    • Fellows’ Reading Group Recommendations
  • Outreach
    • Reading Together Hub
  • Awards & Prizes
    • Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards
    • RSL International Writers
    • RSL Christopher Bland Prize
    • RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction
    • RSL Literature Matters Awards
    • RSL Ondaatje Prize
    • V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
    • The Encore Award
      • The Nation’s Favourite Second Novel
    • Companions of Literature
    • The Benson Medal
  • News
  • Contact

MENU

  • Home
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Council
    • Staff
    • Jobs
  • Join & support
    • Digital Events Pass
    • Membership
    • 1820 Club
    • Become a Patron
    • Literature Matters Supporters’ Circle
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • A legacy to Literature
    • Volunteer
    • Thank You
  • What’s on
  • Library
    • RSL Review Magazine
    • Research
    • The Literature Matters Hub
  • RSL Fellows
    • Fellows
    • RSL Open
    • 40 Under 40
    • Honorary Fellows
    • Fellowship Election
    • Fellows Remembered
    • Fellows’ Reading Group Recommendations
  • Outreach
    • Reading Together Hub
  • Awards & Prizes
    • Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards
    • RSL International Writers
    • RSL Christopher Bland Prize
    • RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction
    • RSL Literature Matters Awards
    • RSL Ondaatje Prize
    • V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
    • The Encore Award
      • The Nation’s Favourite Second Novel
    • Companions of Literature
    • The Benson Medal
  • News
  • Contact
  • DONATE
  • Join now
  • Log In
Return To Map

On the Ledge

By: Scott Linder

About The Poem

Inspired by a fledgling bird outside my window, which gave me hope when hope was low, I wrote this poem.


The Poem

I watched you get to know your feathers
And learn the job your wings can do
Hopping from the shady foliage
To the sun and back again

There really is so much ahead

You do not know how much to hope
But something in me sensed the hugeness
Of the seeds of promise there
As I watched you from my window
leave the ledge of what’s familiar
Flitting for the first time towards
Your future

I will see you in the sky
And say aloud to passersby
But mostly to the clouds in me
That everything will be okay

It will

Return To Map

Previous: The Beach and the Cloudy Day

By Zia Allybocus

View Poem

Next: Fell Low Ship

By Sumrah Hussain

View Poem

Do you have poem you would like to feature? Submit it here

Receive our thrice-weekly Tiny Newsletter

Support

Support

The Royal Society of Literature is a registered charity and receives no government funding. Discover how to donate and sponsor the RSL.

Join the RSL Mailing List

Sign up to our monthly e newsletter to find out about forthcoming RSL events and news and information from other literary organisations.

Sign up now

News & Updates

  • Dalloway Day 2022
    Dalloway Day 2022

    16/06/2022

    Every year, on a ‘Wednesday in mid-June’, Dalloway Day celebrates Virginia Woolf’s work and legacy. …

  • RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2022 – Winner Announced
    RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2022 – Winner Announced

    07/06/2022

    We are excited to announce that Julia Parry has won the 2022 RSL Christopher Bland Prize for The Sha …

  • Three Awards, RSL Open now open for submissions
    Three Awards, RSL Open now open for submissions

    01/06/2022

    It’s a big day here at the RSL, with the opening of this year’s Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards, RSL Gil …

  • Encore Award 2022 – Winner Announced
    Encore Award 2022 – Winner Announced

    24/05/2022

    We are excited to announce that Francis Spufford has won the 2022 Encore Award for Light Perpetual ( …

Read all news

RSL on Twitter

Tweets by RSLiterature Join the conversation
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy Policy

The Royal Society of Literature, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Tel 020 7845 4678. Registered Charity No. 213-962

WEBSITE BY BOOKSWARM