Where Are They Now?

Where Are They Now?

We recall how much we were
accustomed to their presence
as nothing out of the ordinary,
so accustomed were we to seeing
them, hearing them, every day,
everywhere. Then it suddenly
occurs to us: where have they
all gone, those flighty birds?

Those bright blue, bell-toned
birds so common in our childhood,
no longer to be seen. On occasion,
in early spring as we meander
through the woods we hear the
shrill yet ghostlike song and we think:
ah, a Bluejay ... but there is now to
our ears, a mournful quality, as though
the bird, like us, laments its once
plentiful presence in our lives.

Those cheeky little scrappers
once seen everywhere, at all times,
scrabbling under trees, on
pavement, under cars, searching
out seed and grit, their familiar
chirp speaking to us: when did all
those lovable little house sparrows
leave, and what's more, why?

The trilling flocks of Evening
grosbeaks that once regularly
invaded our gardens, sitting like
ripe yellow fruits on branches, and
their cousins, the rose-breasted beauties,
why did they forsake us, we now
wonder, marvelling in sad regret
at their mysterious absence.

And then perhaps the answer comes,
we have it in those sadly sordid
instances falling upon the maimed
remnants of a wild rabbit, a dove,
a tiny grey mouse, a red squirrel, its
once glossy pelt drab in death. And
we see the stealthy departing flash
of neighbouring predator felines.