Small Birds That Sing

Plants that bloom, bugs that work in teams—
These things weren’t part of life on Earth
At all times. Change made way for them.
Change will take them. You, too. Us, too.

What, then, to do? How, then, to live
With this view of a loud wren puffed
On a hedge lit with small bright fruits,
Ants on the ground, bees in the air,

You in the house, stuck here with us,
Who tell you what you know too well?
It’s not just the fact that you die.
Lives die. What gives, when it all slides?