two years

Red songbird, with your cardinal screams /
and carnal knowledge / with me, of me /

on this first day of spring. You scream for your life
above my head - the closer I listen, I hear a song
you once wrote about wishing to be loved. 

You perch silhouetted on telephone lines
against a cloudless blue sky, red body
like a wound. [something bright, then holes?]*

Fly to a new branch, move closer,
sit right above my head. If I say 
your name on Earth out loud, 
will you hear it for what it is?
Were you always on the inside /

screaming / singing / for release?

You are so bright, red songbird,
but I look down for just a moment and
I lose you between shadows of branches.
I lose you over again, each time - maybe
in each life. I become lost in my mind
and in a moment, you are gone again
as quickly as the seasons change / 
as quickly as a frightened bird flies.