After the birthing
and she was wiped clean and her feet and eyes checked
wrapped in cloth and held by her mother
she spoke her first words—
sounds like butterfly wings beating at the air
trying to rise on a windy day
to reach the flowering shrub.
Her parents could not understand what she was saying
but a bird outside the window of the hospital room
heard what she said
and responded with a song
rising on currents of warm air
alongside its spread wings
the bird and its song and the gentle breathing
of butterfly wings.
Grey Sparrow Journal 