WHY I NEED BIRDS - by Lisel Mueller

 

 

WHY  I  NEED  BIRDS by   Lisel Mueller     When I hear them call    in the morning, before    I am quite awake,    my bed is already traveling    the daily rainbow,    the arc toward evening;    and the birds, leading    their own discreet lives    of hunger and watchfulness,    are with me all the way,    always a little ahead of me    in the long-practiced manner    of unobtrusive guides.     By the time I arrive at evening,    they have just settled down to rest;    already invisible, they are turning    into the dreamwork of trees;    and all of us together —    myself and the purple finches,    the rusty blackbirds,    the ruby cardinals,    and the white-throated sparrows    with their liquid voices —    ride the dark curve of the earth    toward daylight, which they announce    from their high lookouts    before dawn has quite broken for me.