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RED BIRD
by Mary Oliver
Red bird came all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else could.Of course I love the sparrows,
those dun-colored darlings
so hungry and so many.I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
I know He has many children,
not all of them bold in spirit.Still, for whatever reason —
perhaps because the winter is so long
and the sky so black-blue,or perhaps because the heart narrows
as often as it opens—
I am gladthat red bird comes all winter,
firing up the landscape
as nothing else can do.