A Speck of Black - Response poem to Nitoo Das' How to Photograph an Oriental White-eye

The blue is bright
and piercing
I blink and it infects me
I lift my body, throwing off
the heaviness of the morning,

slicing the midday thermals
and climb the blue
now dropping, now rising.

The sunlight ripples
over my body
caresses my downy neck
my throat trills with power
As  I climb higher
still higher
while my shadow falls lower
with each wheeling turn—
he will find me
when I let myself fall.

Then I see it, a small
grey body sleek and sly
feral like me
but it's careless today
and it will be its last
I fold the air with my wings
silent like falling dust
a moment of surprise
then it's limp,
warm and solid.
I trill its death song
to the blue
impassive and serene.