"Why I Need the Birds" Poem by Lisel Mueller

"Why I Need the Birds"

by Lisel Mueller

When I hear them callin the morning,

before I am quite awake,

my bed is already traveling

the daily rainbow,

the arc toward evening;

and the birds, leading

their own discreet lives

of hunger and watchfulness,

are with me all the way,

always a little ahead of me

in the long-practiced manner

of unobtrusive guides.

By the time I arrive at evening,

they have just settled down to rest;

already invisible, they are turning

into the dreamwork of trees;

and all of us together —

myself and the purple finches,

the rusty blackbirds,

the ruby cardinals,

and the white-throated sparrows

with their liquid voices —

ride the dark curve of the earth

toward daylight, which they announce

from their high lookouts

before dawn has quite broken for me.