How Does a Bird
How does a bird weather
the great storms hunkered
down under branches
or nestled beneath leaves
his small body pounded by
rain that slams even us
with drops that punch and sting
with winds that skid airplanes
across hangars and peel roofs.
How in the screaming dark when
trees bend and heave branches
like leaves while limbs crack
and debris skitters across the land
how does a small feathered bird
survive and come out with the sun
the next morning to feast on
grubs in newly exposed bark and
hunt as if the world had always
looked like this all landmarks
erased and nests blown away
and sing all is well, all is well.
© Zen Oleary
August 25, 2004
