Becoming birds we trade our arms for wings,
transform our mouths to beaks and let the air
replace our marrow. Fast-forsaking things
like counting and manipulation, hair
is complicated into feathers, hued
and patterned: evolution’s male parade.
The embryos are boys until subdued
by estrogen and dipped in earthy shade.

Disdaining houses we begin to soar.
We levitate on thermals and we lean
and swoop to coast an arc and covet more,
so angling wide again, our motions clean,
our spirits loose, beside ourselves, alert,
we comprehend the subtleties of dirt.