A squeak in the night the molasses sky muting the silver stars As they fell one by one onto the hard packed earth where we lay unspoken words smarting in the darkness lips flushed red with promises broken and lies spread as thin as lip balm. Their ungainly flight to escape became a sharp distraction to my muddled emotions as they woke one by one to the smothered chirps of the baby birds. Alone and abandoned they mirrored my cries for help and gently with hands accustomed to flesh not feathers We gathered the small bodies in cacoons of towel. A small barrier from the stalking squirrel prowling the midnight branches. Small ******* fluttering in panic We soothed and spoke in soft utterances in contrast with our wheeling minds and the rescue of three little lives cleared the garbled words we choked on until we could meet clear gaze clear hearts. The soft whisper of the wind carried away our pain. And as the baby birds pleas faded to contented humming our bodies settled into peace and our minds into laughter and love was once again a precious gift