Bird Song in my Pediatric Office

COVID Pandemic, 2020

 

 

Canaries should sing

effortlessly

their voices surprising

from beings so small

 

It is what I love

about teenagers

 

unafraid and clear-eyed

they tell us 

what we hadn’t thought

to notice

 

some more crow

than songbird,

Stellar’s jay

boisterous beside

warblers.

 

I coo, dove-like,

encourage the chatter.

 

These seers 

might trill and call,

sharing 

the hawk’s view

on impending storms;

 

or sometimes

chirp joyfully, 

bedazzled

by shiny bits

they collect like

reassurances.

 

But lately instead 

of peeping 

I hear screeching

 

or worse than that

 

silence.

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