Defining Birds

[Philatone]

V. 3
Adjusted stanza 2, removing "is it"
Adjusted stanza 6 to "a life...spent searching"


Ask me
What is a bird?

A patchwork of feathers
Sewn with a beak and straw legs

A music box
Waiting to be turned in the trees

Perhaps even a symbol of liberty,
Knowing no borders, nesting in alcoves and
The nooks of porches.

No, no.
I find a bird to be no more

Than a life
Spent searching for the best patch of sun.
A vacation home in Guatemala. A time share in my mulberry.

A bird is a man with two addresses,
Two homes crafted by the same beak.

Two hiding places. Two nests
Where he is jury and judge.

I think of birds this way
To make them not so different,

Wings, only a means
To get from here to home.


Original

Ask me
What is a bird?

Is it a patchwork of feathers
Sewn with a beak and straw legs?

A music box
Waiting to be turned in the trees?

Or it must be a symbol of liberty,
Knowing no borders, nesting in alcoves and
The nooks of porches.

No, no.
I find a bird to be no more

Than a man
Searching for the best patch of sun.
A vacation home in Guatemala. A time share in my mulberry.

A bird is a man with two addresses,
Two homes crafted by the same beak.

Two hiding places. Two nests
Where he is jury and judge.

I think of birds this way
To make them not so different,

Wings, only a means
To get from here to home.