Birds

Spring, the time of year when tourists shiver on the beach

And baby birds begin to fall out of the sidewalk trees

Sometimes when it rained

We'd grab a fifth and find a place to watch the planes

One night we saw a Boeing trailing flames

And you said

"They make it or they don't"

You bought a point-and-shoot

To try to document your visions of the truth

Cut your teeth on gritty portraits for the local zines

Snapping everywhere we'd go

We rode to Coney and you shot a couple rolls

And the boney kid who broke my nose was glad to pose

Biting on a bodega rose

Then we crashed on the train

I woke up and saw the sun rising

With your head on my knees

And I closed my eyes

I saw a flicker of your face

Above the candle with a sticker of a saint

Lit a cig and then you pulled me into the smoke

Then I was driving in the snow

You and Nick were scared, yelling where to go

But the Firebird was skidding all over the road

I said, "Damn thing's dancing on its own

We make it or we don't"

We're passed out on the train

I woke up to find the sun blinding

You were still sound asleep

So I closed my eyes

(Then I was walking in a hazy field near where I'm from)

Passed out on the train

(I'd just clipped my first dove with my father's shotgun)

I was bleeding in the sunlight

(I found her among the sunflowers, still flapping her wings)

With your head on my knees

(I scooped her gently into my hands, and I set her free)

And love on my mind