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.
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