Bright Bird of Autumn

[Sue Littleton]

Early autumn morning;
the two cats sit side by side at the open window,
tamed predators, ever yearning --
occasionally their object is a handsome pair of grey ringdoves,
sometimes only a saucy city sparrow,
or a lazy pink-footed urban pigeon.
Their still attentiveness teases my curiosity
and I go to stand behind them, following the trajectory
of those huge yellow eyes
that see almost as well those of falcons.

I scan the nearest roofscape, the countless crisscrossing wires --
lower my gaze– and there he is, not ten feet from me,
balanced on a thick black cable,
a small, plump, jet-eyed jewel of a bird,
golden plumage delicately etched with black on wing and head,
an unknown ornithlogical delight.

The cats are frozen into stillness,
but either our feathered visitor has seen my shadowed movement
or else senses he is the center of human admiration
and feline fixation.
So, brusquely,
a ray of .living sunlight,
he wings away to attend to business elsewhere,
indifferent that his brief presence
has afforded me a joyous beginning
to an uneventful day.

[hester_prynne]

A stellar, lovely write. I can relate.
H

[Sue Littleton]

Thanks for reading and commenting, Hester! Glad it appealed to you ... Sue♥