“Love, and then do as you wish.”
—St. Augustine
While I thaw out my dreams
with my morning coffee,
I find the Yellow-rumped Warbler,
my always chipper co-worker,
drooping on the white picket fence
like her spirit left
for an adventure
without her.
She is not preparing for her prayers.
She is not washing her feathers
in a pristine fountain.
She is not working the scales
until each note is put in its place.
Now,
when I spot her
in the late winter light,
when the shadows of the maple
drip into syrup,
she’s belting the dirty laundry of her heart
beside a crew of orphaned crows
who know all too well
what praying is for.
