Uncut Timber

Gliding, setting cupped wings to land
Tilt, slide in among thick branches
Time for no time, direction undirected
Offering of shade, protected space

A place to rest and ruffle feathers
Preen a bit, resume the song
that began elsewhere, notes sung
from a life in other forests

Restive, with an eye for predators
Interrupted flight, to wing in here
Landing for a while to contemplate
options of unending emigration

Perhaps to stay a while, more likely not
Catching breath and stretching wings
Testing seasons, judging angles of sun
Lost in gentle foliage, then gone

No place to build a nest
No reason to establish this far north
Permanence needs warmer springs
further south than these roots grow

Still, there's something to be said
for the maturity of uncut timber
Years standing against storms
A history of drought and flood

Spread branches that ask nothing
No need to stay, no rush to go
Shelter from one season to the next
A silhouette on migratory routes