Red Bird

Red bird came all winter

firing up the landscape

as nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,

those dun-colored darlings,

so hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.

I know He has many children,

not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason--

perhaps because the winter is so long

and the sky so black-blue,

or perhaps because the heart narrows

as often as it opens--

I am grateful

that red bird comes all winter

firing up the landscape

as nothing else can do.

Mary Oliver, Red Bird, 2008