On Birdsong long before sunrise

now birds, what indicates the light to come?
this is pure night to me or anyone
with you already singing.

so birds, have you trained your expectant eyes
on some point elected in the whirling skies
to be the cosmic signal?

and so you all wait for your inscrutable cue
that, say, Betelgeuse is just about due
to clear Idaho Peak?

that must be it. how else could all this be linked?
to say it's nothing but instinct
is just begging the question.

Fred Sengmueller
(Rome, Italy)