A Vicarious Flight With the Falcon, Mary Redman

who lives in a hollow tree may open the eyes of a vigilant witness to a writhing world below.

A swan returns to find his nest coyote-wasted, a ruined mate and looted eggs—no cygnets will survive this spring.

An opossum slinks from shrub to shed, where dead things feed her young, sweeps a rat-like tail and takes a brazen walk in high sun.

Branches hang with season’s hue, but earth lies untidy with leavings of each past season, its growth, its gleaning, and all its bitterest gloom.

My fire flickers in a fearsome wind that threatens light and warmth ‘til an upward arc of wide-spread wings calls me to follow this bird

who has taught herself to hunt and glide toward an uncertain sky. With face upturned, I mark her journey, open my wings, and fly.