In the crisp morning air of December,
The specifics of which have already fled,
As if avoiding the inevitable revision,
A pair of birds met
At the window feeder.
The cardinal, red and boisterous,
Used to bullying wren and finch alike,
Held tightly in a flurry of feathers,
Incredulous of the pure audacity
Of the red-bellied woodpecker
Who had arrived headlong
All a-clunk into the swaying feeder,
Oblivious of its king.
exiles child 