Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

I follow the trail of feathers,

black, glistening

and there she is, the magpie

flopping  among the leaves

struggling with a broken wing

Ah, I think, it’s you,

you who’ve invaded my

songbird nest

your belly full of sweet eggs

she buries her head beneath a wing

you can’t hide, you ravenous thing

I angle away

let the predators have her, I think

as the leaves rustle with

the frantic beating of her heart

It’s her beating heart that

pulls at mine

In one fell swoop

I scoop her up, cradling her

in my palms even while she

stabs my skin with her beak

Calm now, I coo to her, calm now

her dark eye blinks

she settles, nestles in

all creatures, great and small, I recall

All right, God, you have your reasons

they are not mine to question

she sleeps in my palms

as if she’s home and…