vast wealth of stillness

i imagine the wren and the song sparrow

exchanging lyric for our amusement.

practicing for hours to get it perfect,

knowing we walk here

we might eavesdrop

on a one sided discourse

between stiff formal egret

and casually animated mallard,

or imagine the killdeer crisscrossing

the mudflats

waiting 'til he's spied us on the far bank

to start singing.

his cry traveling to our ears

on the same tossed breeze

that rocks the cardinal plant

swaying before hungry hummingbird.

if we could slice close to the water's top

as the swallow riding on a cushion of air

an immovable and powerful softness,

tuning his eyes to the smallest movement.

I imagine us,

finding our vision has been

lost in the many small movements

within a vast wealth of stillness.