DANCE OF BIRDS

You see them black
against the Autumn sky
those tight-knit flocks of birds
that swirl like schools of fish

hundreds of them
all in a synchronized dance
a bird ballet
changing direction on a dime
first here, then there
they follow some secret signal
that tells them when to change course
a code they all decipher
in unison
precision
in an instant

what drives their aerial acrobatics
are they confused as to their destination
can't make up their minds or

do they just like to perform
giving us lowly earthbound men
a sample of what it's like
to fly so effortlessly
so gracefully painting the sky

they shame us all
men grounded like stationary posts

men who would build pyramids
but cannot
spread their wings to fly.


© d.knape
February 20, 2017