Aviary

A winged ceremony before my house!

I broke in upon a Robin to the east, plucking things from the earth

A Cardinal to the north, bathing with an invitation in the basin before the door

A gaggle of Finches to the west, shifting beneath the shrubs behind the hedge

This quadrilateral domain is theirs more than mine:

Cradle and bunk bed and tunnel and train and flight pattern and gravestone and

yes, this backyard transect

I caught them at guilty pleasures:

Buried beneath the mantle of my rented lawn;

Bathing upon a pedestal;

Flittering beyond the shapes of my steel instruments;

Raucous like a jungle aviary in the warm sun slanting before the rains resume.