I was looking out my window today
Over my backyard.
For days and nights the temperature
Had been in single digits.
No precipitation: no rain or snow.
The world was trapped in frozen air.
When the sun shone it was beautiful.
Our backyard fountain bravely ran
Though ice formed down its sides.
Today I saw a sight only my eyes
Could capture in my mind.
If I had been a famous photographer
Perhaps I could have recorded the scene.
But I’m not.
Instead it’s only in my brain,
A part of life’s memories.
I had wondered if at last
The fountain water was stilled
By the ice completely.
Not today, that was sure.
Instead little visitors arrived:
First one and two, then more.
Birds flew by and then landed
On the stones that support the fountain.
A few were brave and dipped their toes
Into that cold, cold, wetness.
Then more arrived.
Was there a call I could not hear?
It became a natural drinking fountain.
Birds of all colors and types
Flew in from surrounding trees.
Delicately dipping their beaks
To sip the water.
Perhaps this was the only “fresh” water
They could find in the neighborhood.
I had no idea so many remained
Throughout the winter.
The water must have been quite cold
But it satisfied their thirst.
I saw small brown ones
I saw beautiful blue ones with rosy breasts
Look! A blue jay has wandered by.
A picture of nature at its best:
living breathing drinking.
Right there before my curious eyes
Wishing I could take a video.
Some way I could preserve the scene
To help me remember
Or to share with all those who
Weren’t there to watch it with me.
At the end there must have been
More than twenty birds
Drinking, maybe chatting?
As suddenly as they came
One by one they simply flew away.
A picture I could not capture.