Birdwoman

Swallow
precious one
my memories of you predate my earliest consciousness
of all but trees
darting this way and that
seeking insects above the river of our home
and
at my grandmothers’ houses
also my homes
swooping and sculpting aerial acrobatics with the wind and clouds
in dances macabre
so beautiful and stunning
i lost sight of you
only to find you in a wholly different quadrant
in time and place
and space
dark blue materializing from puffy white
or darkest green
or shimmery grey-blue-steel

years later and continents apart i called to you and low whistle
and you came
circling round
low, wide, curious
who is this two-legged one?

i could not be the first such child-woman to think she could speak to you
but i kept calling and you came
humoring me
laughing with your so wide beak
and your answering call.

ah, i know i flatter me, dreaming delusional, happily cognizant of it—
you call to each other, not a mere human
but i was lonely, oh so lonely, so i was glad to imagine it
as i imagined it as a lonely child, why not?

i imagined you might be indulgent, or at the least indifferent if not amused..
a small young thing then, giggling and laughing
no so different from your hungry young ones
fledglings learning to fly and falling out of the nest and causing you no end of concern.
my mom nursed a fewe of your youngs ones back to health,
we took care around your nests.
you are the first creature i learned to draw.
i love you still …
and call to you everywhere i go.

our parrots are loving and kind, and know when we are sad and lonely.
as well as happy and glad
we share a language and groom together
i never could have imagined such a world exists!
they call to us, as i imagined you called to me.
it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.