How do they survive
these freezing winter nights
these little packages of fluff and feather?
by the day's first light
they're back at the bird feeder
taking turns snatching a seed
flicking their tails

Warblers, house finches, chickadees
pine siskins, junkos, sparrows
their names nearly as pleasurable
as they are to watch
they flit about more quickly
than the human eye can follow
showing us what it means
to be alive