Fort/Da

There on the branch

where the heron was that time

 

is now
              no bird.

 

Although your mind retains an image of its slow,

final flight

                          -- its white composure in the tree --

 

there on the branch

              it isn't,

 

and neither is anything else.

That's what I love about wildlife.

 

Birdfeeders - no.

 

If the birds are as sick as I am

            of getting breakfast

 

I don't want to know about it.

 

Linda Bamber

Note: "Fort!" and "Da!" are exclamations that Sigmund Freud heard his grandson Ernst utter while playing. This pair of words-meaning "Gone!" and "There!" were a clue to Freud about the deep satisfaction of participating in the cycle of loss and reappearance.