Once disappeared, the Inca Doves
have found a way through a gap in time
to where the sunshine warms them
back to life early in the day, when they
watch from the fence
how hummingbirds dart
and spear seconds as they pass
with their rapier beaks.
No sooner have they shaken
stardust from their wings
the Lesser Goldfinches are hungry
and the first of them to greet the sun
arrives from night’s secret vault
where all colors melt
into a black the black depression wears.
The goldfinch glides along first light’s
shining balustrade, and lands
as a molten drop of hope
among those who suffered the worldly blows
that strike without warning.
The Abert’s Towhee pair has risen
from the earth again. Each morning
they appear at the feeder
and never stay long. The universe
is for them too. Seed flows from the sun
and they know all the stories
about a god with wings of fire. But they
believe only that seed is seed and
gods to them are incense burning down
before they’re gone forever.
David Chorlton
.