TUXEDO BIRDS
Grey tops light underbelly
Just the right colors
Canadians or at least
Summer residents up there
They’d probably get overheated
Any further south than here
A joy when they arrive
Tight knit flocks
Copying everything
Everyone else does
Skittering around in the seeds
I scatter after coffee
Looking for just the right ones
Yellow beaks so good
At shelling the tiny ones
Looking here and there
Keeping distance from
Bossy sparrows and cardinals
At night they cling tight
Dreaming of vast untouched
Pine forests whispering
Back to the wind
The flush of tasty insects
Nests lined with winter hair
Of deer and moose
Shed or caught on
Branch and briar
Eggs to warm
The wonder of little
Warm bodies reaching up
Every time I return
It warms for a short time
I flit from bush to vine
Joy of feeling full and fat
For the long trip back
Down south as they say
Teaching the little ones
So nice up here
Isn’t it
