Gone are the Purple Martins

Gone are the purple martins,

Gone to Central America,

Gone to South America,

Gone to islands in the Caribbean.

Gone to follow the spring,

Answering to the magnetic field,

Answering to the inner voice of mystery.

Gone are the purple martins,

Only to return next January,

Arriving and investing the neighbor’s birdhouses

With their chatter framed by their flying,

Their flying in arcs,

Tracing new curves in air.

Chatter and flight enough

To persude me to stay and wait.

--July 23, 2013