We Can’t Escape The Fact That We’re Not Enough For Each Other

By Jane McKie

 

Brambling, bullfinch, chaffinch, crossbill,

goldfinch, greenfinch, hawfinch, redpoll –

 

a new edge between us scissors

through air, routing music

                        from throats, birds from perches.

 

They spill, forming

flurries like snow but

                        tough as flint

 

and I feel every atom of

their shifting,

                        flickering wingbeats.

 

Nightjar, nuthatch, dipper, pipit,

woodlark, shorelark, skylark, swallow –

 

I had birds once.

                        I let them go.