"A drunken poignant two lines of song"

Pigeon
by Carl Sandburg

The flutter of blue pigeon’s wings
Under a river bridge
Hunting a clean dry arch,
A corner for a sleep—
This flutters here in a woman’s hand.

A singing sleep cry,
A drunken poignant two lines of song,
Somebody looking clean into yesterday
And remembering, or looking clean into
To-morrow, and reading,—
This sings here as a woman’s sleep cry sings.

Pigeon friend of mine,
Fly on, sing on.

From Smoke and Steel, 1921.

The pigeon on the peach, Song Dynasty, c. 12th century