Waxwings

For Nancy Warner

When the year unravels
I retreat to the wood’s edge,
Weary and worn
Listen for the Waxwings’
Lisping cries, catch
Red spheres passed
Between bills
And sometimes swallowed
Wild raspberry stains slice the snow

Deeper I trail
Through forest
Into land as grail
Glance the grey wolf
She hugs blind pups,
Rummages undergrowth
For carcass of deer
Downy woodpeckers
Chisel an ode
With crimson crowns a blur
And beaks ricochet a dazzling din

Water settles to stone,
Earth as strong as iron
Surely Rossetti’s bleak mid-winter
Insistent Nature presses her nose
Hard against my camera glass
And the “peace of wild things”
Rises from the cedar trees

Wings, tipped with red
Wax and weave
These birds, so at home and
Terribly secure in the woods
Abandon their worldly tethers
Exquisite destiny to romp
In pure sapphire skies
Where we humans dare not reach

Published December 7, 2016