The tree is empty
save for red berries and full, green leaves,
until you come with a partner one Saturday, early.
Checking out the territory, you dance on its branches:
one inside - then out -
one inside - then out.
I have questions for you:
is it nesting time?
can this be your new home?
will the berries be enough?
The tree is empty,
filled only with hope
as you navigate its branches.
I sit, empty too, still as a plant,
watching you:
afraid to move -
scared you'll fly away.
“Bird in the Tree” Photo by Mary Elyn Bahlert, 2022
