--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Urgent Story\" When the oracle said, ‘If…" description: "\"“Urgent Story\" When the oracle said, ‘If you keep pigeons you will never lose home.’ I kept pigeons. They flicked their red eyes over me, a deft trampl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22b/tess-gallagher-40611_black-eyes_urgent-story-when-the-oracle-said-if-you_476081.png" --- # Urgent Story" When the oracle said, ‘If you keep pigeons… ![“Urgent Story" When the oracle said, ‘If you keep pigeons you will never lose home.’ I kept pigeons. They flicked their red eyes over me, a deft trampling of that humanly proud distance by which remaining aloof in it’s own fullness. I administered crumbs, broke sky with them like breaking the…” quote by Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22b/tess-gallagher-40611_black-eyes_urgent-story-when-the-oracle-said-if-you_476081.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22b/tess-gallagher-40611_black-eyes_urgent-story-when-the-oracle-said-if-you_476081.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22b/tess-gallagher-40611_black-eyes_urgent-story-when-the-oracle-said-if-you_476081.png) > ““Urgent Story" When the oracle said, ‘If you keep pigeons you will never lose home.’ I kept pigeons. They flicked their red eyes over me, a deft trampling of that humanly proud distance by which remaining aloof in it’s own fullness. I administered crumbs, broke sky with them like breaking the lemon-light of the soul's amnesia for what It wants but will neither take nor truh let go. How it revived me, to release them! And at that moment of flight to disavow the imprint, to tear their compass, out by the roots of some green meadow they might fly over on the way to an immaculate freedom, meadow in which a woman has taken off her blouse, then taken off the man's flannel shirt in their sky-drenched arc of one, then the other above each other's eyelids is a branding of daylight, the interior of its black ambush in which two joys lame the earth a while with heat and cloudwork under wing-beats. Then she was quiet with him. And he with her. The world hummed with crickets, with bees nudging the lupins. It is like that when the earth counts its riches—noisy with desire even when desire has strengthened our bodies and moved us into the soak of harmony. Her nipples in sunlight have crossed his palm wind-sweet with savor and the rest is so knelt before that when they stand upright the flight-cloud of my tamed birds shapes an arm too short for praise. Oracle, my dovecot is an over and over nearer to myself when its black eyes are empty. But by nightfall I am dark before dark if one bird is missing. Dove left open by love in a meadow, Dove commanding me not to know where it sank into the almost-night—for you I will learn to play the concertina, to write poems full of hateful jasmine and longing, to keep the dead alive, to sicken at the least separation. Dove, for whose sake I will never reach home.”” [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator seeks freedom and self‑knowledge through caring for pigeons, confronting loss and the paradox of control versus surrender. **In simple terms:** Caring for birds mirrors the quest for inner freedom. Key Takeaway Embrace loss as a path to deeper insight. Themes freedom loss self‑discovery Mood poetic introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal loss - creative writing - spiritual practice Key Concepts symbolism of birds existential yearning Questions to Reflect On - What does the dove symbolize for you? - How does loss shape your identity? A Different Perspective Control can become an illusion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dove/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [Dead or alive, interesting people are interesting people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-riley-fitch/dead-or-alive-interesting-people-are-interesting-people/) Noel Riley Fitch > [If I weren’t already dead, I’d be alive with joy,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-vincent/if-i-weren-t-already-dead-i-d-be-alive-with-joy/) [Rachel Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-vincent/) > [Mother cow is as useful dead as when she is alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/mother-cow-is-as-useful-dead-as-when-she-is-alive/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“He couldn’t be dead, because he was still so alive in her mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-perkins/he-couldn-t-be-dead-because-he-was-still-so-alive-in-her-mind/) [Stephanie Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-perkins/) > [“Yes, he is dead, dead...But we--we are alive! (67)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bulgakov/yes-he-is-dead-dead-but-we-we-are-alive-67/) [Mikhail Bulgakov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bulgakov/) > [Dear, if you are dead or alive, I will still love you no matter what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-earl/dear-if-you-are-dead-or-alive-i-will-still-love-you-no-matter-what/) Graham Earl > [Depression is about as close as you get to somewhere between dead and alive, and it's the worst.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/depression-is-about-as-close-as-you-get-to-somewhere-between-dead-and/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [There are some dead who are more alive than the living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romain-rolland/there-are-some-dead-who-are-more-alive-than-the-living/) [Romain Rolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romain-rolland/) > [I know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-know-why-we-try-to-keep-the-dead-alive-we-try-to-keep-them-alive-in/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [There is no more foul or relentless enemy of man in the occult world than this dead-alive creature spewed up from the grave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-endore/there-is-no-more-foul-or-relentless-enemy-of-man-in-the-occult-world/) Guy Endore > [Zombies sort of typify this ambiguity, that they're not dead and not alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-baena/zombies-sort-of-typify-this-ambiguity-that-they-re-not-dead-and-not/) [Jeff Baena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-baena/) > [“With her, and only with her, the dead in me is alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-ritchie/with-her-and-only-with-her-the-dead-in-me-is-alive/) [Becca Ritchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-ritchie/) > [i'm sure i'm worth a lot more dead than alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/i-m-sure-i-m-worth-a-lot-more-dead-than-alive/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [Half dead isn't dead, but half dead is still alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kells/half-dead-isn-t-dead-but-half-dead-is-still-alive/) Kells > ['Livin' on a Prayer,' 'Wanted Dead or Alive' - those are iconic songs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orianthi/livin-on-a-prayer-wanted-dead-or-alive-those-are-iconic-songs/) [Orianthi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orianthi/) ## More by Tess Gallagher > [“In daylight we pick up our tinned rations and hike off, every artery and nerve of us, into the rest of our commemorative lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/in-daylight-we-pick-up-our-tinned-rations-and-hike-off-every-artery/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [“Don’t move. I like this ledge of loose diamonds waiting to be spilled into the night. Let’s shine awhile without touching. Sensuality is, after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/don-t-move-i-like-this-ledge-of-loose-diamonds-waiting-to-be-spilled/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [I stop writing the poem to fold the clothes. No matter who lives or who dies, I'm still a woman. I'll always have plenty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/i-stop-writing-the-poem-to-fold-the-clothes-no-matter-who-lives-or/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [It is a burden, I'm saying, to live where I live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/it-is-a-burden-i-m-saying-to-live-where-i-live/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [That's what poems are for, unlivable love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/that-s-what-poems-are-for-unlivable-love/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [“It's a dangerous mission. You could die out there. You could go on forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/it-s-a-dangerous-mission-you-could-die-out-there-you-could-go-on/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [When you hug someone you want it to be a masterpiece of connection, the way the button on his coat will leave the imprint…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/when-you-hug-someone-you-want-it-to-be-a-masterpiece-of-connection/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [When I was a young girl salmon fishing with my father in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Washington State I used to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/when-i-was-a-young-girl-salmon-fishing-with-my-father-in-the-straits/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) > [the past is not only that which happened but also that which could have happened but did not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-gallagher/the-past-is-not-only-that-which-happened-but-also-that-which-could/) [Tess Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) [Explore all 10 Tess Gallagher quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-gallagher/) ## More Black eyes quotes > [A blue eye is a true eye; Mysterious is a dark one, Which flashes like a spark sun! 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Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-smith/) > [So cut my wrists and black my eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hawthorne-heights/so-cut-my-wrists-and-black-my-eyes/) [Hawthorne Heights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hawthorne-heights/) > [“Mrs. Pott's beady black eyes narrowed,"Do you know how many glass slippers I have to stitch when I get home? There's a Mad Hatter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-avett/mrs-pott-s-beady-black-eyes-narrowed-do-you-know-how-many-glass/) Sophie Avett > [“In his eyes, those dazzling near-black eyes, more important to me than our love or lust or friendship, was a look of pure trust.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-his-eyes-those-dazzling-near-black-eyes-more-important-to-me-than/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Oh my! What happened to your face?” Cameron raised her hands to her face, remembering the moment of impact and how her nose had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-force/oh-my-what-happened-to-your-face-cameron-raised-her-hands-to-her-face/) [Marie Force](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-force/) > [“She didn’t want to give the murder-pornography frame by frame. 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And at that moment of flight to disavow the imprint, to tear their compass, out by the roots of some green meadow they might fly over on the way to an immaculate freedom, meadow in which a woman has taken off her blouse, then taken off the man's flannel shirt in their sky-drenched arc of one, then the other above each other's eyelids is a branding of daylight, the interior of its black ambush in which two joys lame the earth a while with heat and cloudwork under wing-beats. Then she was quiet with him. And he with her. The world hummed with crickets, with bees nudging the lupins. It is like that when the earth counts its riches—noisy with desire even when desire has strengthened our bodies and moved us into the soak of harmony. Her nipples in sunlight have crossed his palm wind-sweet with savor and the rest is so knelt before that when they stand upright the flight-cloud of my tamed birds shapes an arm too short for praise. Oracle, my dovecot is an over and over nearer to myself when its black eyes are empty. But by nightfall I am dark before dark if one bird is missing. Dove left open by love in a meadow, Dove commanding me not to know where it sank into the almost-night—for you I will learn to play the concertina, to write poems full of hateful jasmine and longing, to keep the dead alive, to sicken at the least separation. 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