Thursday, January 25, 2024

HURRY

by William Aarnes


Bird populations are declining — a staggering loss of 3 billion breeding adults, or nearly 30 percent of the population, in just a half century. —The Washington Post, January 17, 2024

Say, in your hurry,

you fail to notice

 

that the flocks of doves

and sparrows are gone

 

from the sidewalks—

until a ding on your phone

 

distracts you from work

with the news that all

 

the doves and sparrows

are gone from the city,

 

no sign of where they went,

the searches for stragglers

 

having come to nothing,

the mayor expressing

 

his worry about what

their sudden disappearance

 

might portend, birdseed

scattered everywhere

 

to no avail, many

quoted as saying

 

the loss improves

the city, many responding

 

with angry lament,

hours spent online

 

finding the best videos

of cooing and belatedly

 

learning to distinguish

different kinds of sparrows,

 

then as time passes

the ongoing debate

 

about what to do

becoming of less

 

and less concern

to you and everyone else

 

in a hurry…



William Aarnes lives in New York.