A graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, UK, Jonathan holds an honors degree in English literature. At Cambridge he won the King’s College James Prize and the Cambridge University T.R. Henn Prize, both for creative writing. On graduating, he was awarded a Harper-Wood Travelling Studentship for English Poetry and Literature by St John’s College, Cambridge. He was the recipient of a Hawthornden Creative Writing Fellowship in 1987 and has over 150 individual publications to his name, in fields ranging from poetry through short stories to essays and translations.
THE FALCON TO THE FALCONER
by Jonathan Steffen
Unleash me from your hand
And I will lance the light for you
I’ll cut a sword blade on the wind
And pennant it with flight for you
To signal I am yours
If you will free me to be true to you
Unleash me from your hand
And I will mock the sky for you
I’ll pull the anger from the air
And make the breezes sigh for you
To show that I am yours
If you will free me to be true to you
Unleash me from your hand
And I will jewel it bright for you
I’ll hunt the treasures of the wind
And pluck them into sight for you
To show that I am yours
If you will free me to be true to you
O, cast me from your hand
That I may show my love for you