Francis preached to these
though in the voice of anyone

are the birds on my side
probably not
by
impulse
and by instinct

it could be generations talking
through genetic
tendrils
of
a network
warning life to come
that
there are entities to hunt and
to eat us

and those who shoot for fun
maybe
to sharpen aim
but
it’s your life
more
so than theirs that’s taken

yet
something more

something
like
the branch and who put it
there
regardless of who claims the credit

the tree made
by
well
could be by Pan which or who
would
go
with dancing in the small
leaps we take

or
could be something
more

better than preening
to take
care of us
and
when we fall
in
some way outside the body
we are caught

while
often in the spring
new
ones of us arrive

c l couch

photo by Tom Bradley on Unsplash