The Migration
Two hundred miles she came, so brave and lost,
to save our marriage, hopeless from the first
but still we took the path along the coast;
we found our way across the Warren’s spur
and neither of us noticed how the air
was tense with wailing (when did they appear,
those first few birds?), next growing flocks of starlings
all turning and descending, still more starlings,
and suddenly the sky was full of starlings
weighing the scrub trees down, coming south
in tired droves and barely space enough
between the leaves to hold them, every mouth
shrieking to guide the latest comers in,
their every arc in thoughtless unison.
Amazed, she walked away to watch alone
head back, her lips apart and lost for words
(estranged from me by more than simple yards)
her whole attention on those gusts of birds
that dusk as flocks of starlings interwove
preparing, with a nearness much like love,
to leave the worst of winter, not to starve.
Page(s) 20
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