What kind of bird this is
that won’t fly away when I approach?
It looks uninjured, is unafraid; in fact
I’m sure that
not long ago
I saw it land
exactly where it sits now
on the split rock in the front yard
that protrudes from the mulch
right behind the stone wall
bordering the sidewalk.
I fill the suet cages and it watches me
the way I might watch a delivery truck
unloading bread to the grocery
next door to work.
Maybe the wonderment here should be
about how I’m mostly a delivery truck
lately, unloading what others need
then disappearing. I should be grateful
I am no object of fear to some being
that could, if it so desired, simply fly away.
It’s a sparrow, of course,
but there are so many
varieties of sparrow
here every day
and I still don’t know all their names
or how to speak of them upon sighting;
It seems wrong that I am still so unsure.
It seems wrong that when I turn back
to my life among people, I feel the same.
It is a shock to the spirit
that even within the comfort
of this bird’s current regard,
I do not feel I am at home.
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