Unbidden

                                                                                by Bill St. Cyr
 
i have a thing about birds
they come unbidden

it is a thing my dad did not get
maybe it is a thing i do not get

a flash of red with black wings
not easily ignored

and yet i know
that others do

do i catch them in my peripheral vision
or do they catch me

as if this is not enough
they come in dreams

waxwings and eagles
hawks and herons

i lie of course
that they come unbidden

i know the place that bids them come