Winter Song in Brooklyn

       Winter Song

A cardinal tapping at my window called

and in Brooklyn, this melody is rare.

A lilting and beautiful high pitched tone,

a Christmas song, gift, heavenly visitor, I thought.

From the bare mulberry tree the feathered body flew

then stopped between locked iron window bars

and caught between them, trapped I feared.

The cardinal tapped on the glass again and sang

raising memories of snow fields and scattered seeds

yes, even blue jay, chickadee, and crow

all songbird melodies answered him inside of me.

I clambered up a chair closer to the tiny prisoner

and looking out through the glass and bars,

I was quite blinded by the dappling morning sun.

I pulled aside the curtain and fussed with the locks

but when I saw him, he was balanced comfortably.

Quite still, he sat on a bobbing twig and looked at me.

Passing easily between the branches and the bars

and off he flew, and then is when it came to me.

I was trapped, not he, I stuck within these walls.

And he had come hoping to set me free.

– J.J.Brown 2011

(Photo credit: NationalGeographic.com)