THE PLYMOUTH HOUSE

Do you see those birds 
right beyond the street?
They can feel our joy, 
pain, and expectations.
They are birds; they can. 
How do I know? I was one of them, 
once, before I was born again. 
I remember flying above the newly cut grass 
where The Plymouth House 
with deep red shadows stands today, 
on East 87th Street, in Manhattan. 
Many moons ago, I felt a strange breeze, 
and everything became green and silent. 
That was the rebirth, through the pain, 
carrying all love letters, written by the lone hearts— 
the guardians of the skies. You are going to live, 
we are all the birds, not looking for some evidence 
that our existence will change, trusting the flow of winds, 
we are riding the pain. Winds are our wings, 
not feathers. Wind, a breath of rebirth,
takes a second to perform a song and be free, 
and that second lasts longer than a millennium.

David Dephy is an award-winning American poet, novelist, multimedia artist, and the founder of Poetry Orchestra. In 2025, he received the Nassau County Poet Laureate Award in New York and served as the Poet-in-Residence for Brownstone Poets from 2024 to 2025. NASA, Lunar Codex, and Brick Street Poetry sent his poem, “A Sense of Purpose,” to the Moon in 2025. Dephy was exiled from his native country of Georgia and received indefinite political asylum in the U.S. His wife and son joined him in 2023 after six years of exile. Recognized as a “Literature Luminary” by Bowery Poetry, a “Stellar Poet” by Voices of Poetry, and an “Incomparable Poet” by Statorec, he has also been called “Brilliant Grace” by Headline Poetry & Press and praised for his “Extremely Unique Poetic Voice” by Cultural Daily. He lives and works in New York City.