If the birds could talk

I think we’d have a compelling conversation
as it stands, they cannot, not to me anyway
still I think they’d like to

the last time I sat here
I hardly noticed them at all
which is to say, they must know
how I’ve felt; how it feels

to chirp softly at first
then just a little louder
and louder still

to send each note out from its safe place
inside your chest, close to your heart
to watch them carried on the wind
lifted, fallen, maybe lost forever

they must know what it is
to fade into a monochrome
temporary home
and appear brightest
in the moments where you fly away