GRACE NOTE
I’m sure birds compose
their own songs,
and that they experience
writer’s block
like human writers do.
When this happens,
I believe birds do the sensible thing:
they take a break –
and keep still
and wait for the light, or
they take flight to catch
a word in the wind,
like a poet ruminating in the park.
And God willing,
a word floats down
like the unmerited warmth of the Sun,
the exact words hoped for
to complete a birdsong, or
to close a poem
and make it sing.
It happens –
this serendipitous
grace note that makes the day.