This is what the things can teach us: to fall, patiently to trust our heaviness. Even a bird has to do that before he can fly.
Rainer Maria Rilke
A yellow breasted bird,
smaller than my hand,
sat outside my door,
unmoving, on the hot cement.
I sat with him -
close enough
to see his tiny brown eyes,
close enough
to see his chest rise
and fall.
How long we sat
I couldn’t say,
So long I began to worry
that he was hurt-
I got up to see -
and he flew away.
Sunday, February 12, 2023. Northern Parula sitting in the sun on our balcony.