One Day I'll Fly Away
Ps. 55:6
In 1949, Pablo Picasso's white dove became the logo for the International Peace Congress in Paris, making the dove a modern symbol of peace. The dove's inclusion was intended to signal the movement's non-partisanship and independence. The artwork, titled Dove of Peace or La Colombe, has since become an iconic symbol of hope and unity. But Picasso didn’t invent this symbol of course. The dove makes its first appearance in the Book of Genesis as the bird sent by Noah to find dry land post flood, returning with an olive leaf in its beak.
The dove is back today.
In today’s psalm of despair, David’s private flood of fear, he’s wishing to have wings and to be able to fly away from the dangers that keep piling on. The scene this psalm sets as context is when an older King David has to flee Jerusalem by foot because his son Absalom is attempting a coup.
David’s disappointed not only by his son’s betrayal but also by that of a trusted advisor whom he thought he can trust in. From these depths he pauses to compose a poem with its own aspirational flight of the imagination:
וָאֹמַ֗ר מִֽי־יִתֶּן־לִ֣י אֵ֭בֶר כַּיּוֹנָ֗ה אָע֥וּפָה וְאֶשְׁכֹּֽנָה׃ הִ֭נֵּה אַרְחִ֣יק נְדֹ֑ד אָלִ֖ין בַּמִּדְבָּ֣ר סֶֽלָה׃
I said,
“O that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and find rest;
surely, I would flee far off;
I would lodge in the wilderness; selah
Ps. 55:6
Molly Morris reflects on this wish to fly away and why it’s the dove that’s particularly mentioned:
“Haven’t we all, at some point, felt so low that we just wanted to escape?
Some sages understand this plea to mean David wanted a complete and permanent escape from his enemies. But one of the rabbis offers a beautiful and inspirational answer to why David wants to be like a dove. The 16th Century R. Moshe Aleshech points to the language of “k’yonah” – like a dove, versus “ka-yonah” as it appears in this verse – like the dove. The dove that David specifically aspires to be like is none other than the dove on which six verses in the story of Noah are dedicated. This dove was sent out by Noah to determine if the flood waters had receded. On its first mission the dove found nowhere to alight and returned to the ark. On its second mission it returned with an olive branch, and from its third journey it did not return. A Midrash on this event asks, from where did the dove get the olive branch, and answers, from the Garden of Eden.
This then is a message about recovery. We started out in the Garden of Eden and then lost everything in the flood. But God sent the dove back with an olive branch to signify to Noah that he could and should rebuild. David’s plea may not have been to escape his reality but rather, like the dove, to receive an olive branch so that he might take flight, start fresh and finally find some inner peace.”
The dove makes one more subtle appearance in this poem, alluded to by the poet’s longing for days in safety, in the temple, where he comes three times a day to find refuge:
עֶ֤רֶב וָבֹ֣קֶר וְ֭צהֳרַיִם אָשִׂ֣יחָה וְאֶֽהֱמֶ֑ה וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע קוֹלִֽי׃
Evening, morning, and noon,
I will pray and moan,
and my voice is heard.
Ps 55:19
The Hebrew word used for ‘moan’ is ‘Eh’emeh’ - a moan or coo often associated with the sounds of doves. In later Talmudic legends the art of prayer and the cooing of doves have a lot in common.
That’s how eventually the dove has become the global symbol of the soul and Picasso’s yearning for peace, for all. The dove will show up tomorrow, silently and with a secret..
Fly on, and on.
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