AN ODE TO THE SONG BIRD

Your continuously quick amazing chirping
Long harmonious blasts
With the last sound slowly creeping in
Like doors do
Giving us away in our daily mischief
Your stage; the tree
Displaying a bandless performance
Singing to every ear reachable; your rhythm
Glued together from your many minim
Vaingloriously you perch
Raising high your red head
Like the army on parade,
Pumping out your chest—so yellow
Feeling at home with the sun rays
Your upper body so black and shinny
Making less visible your rough-hewn tail feathers
The higher your black wings carry you, the higher the black man will go
Like you, great songs of classics my type have produced
On and on my people progress
Again and again I wait patiently at the bathroom window
Patiently angry, waiting for next show to commence