A nondescript little grey bird
You perch upon the rail on my front porch
I can see the muscles’ straining of your throat
As the song pours out

I’m safely behind the window
You in bright daylight safe upon the rail
And I feel unaccountably glad
Pleased to take care not to move

It was a good thing that I quit drinking
Three years ago just after the inauguration
I had a lot of good times but none better
Than watching and listening now

But getting drunk really wasn’t much fun
Mostly just beating my brain as Iggy put it
And my beloved is here beside me now
What power she whispers of the little songster

And my mother still in Jacksonville
Still alive though ravaged by dementia
And my granddaughter cute and irascible
Loved and pampered in faroff Wales

I’m stuck in my house working from home
But you and I are together little bird
Though separated by panes of glass
The same force animating your song and my poem

And off you fly
Though you stuck around longer than I ever expected
And thus it’s decided
I want to keep living