Mr. Cardinal Hides

Mr. Cardinal Hides

The cardinal hid today.

A year ago

He came to the patio door

When I was standing just inside

And proceeded to dance

And display

As if I were a female cardinal.

But today I heard his chirrup

In one of the neighbor’s trees.

I could not see him.

When I fixed on the tree

He was in

With my ears,

I saw, amid shades of paler

And orange red,

A deep uncompromising red

Which in a month’s time

Would be a leaf

But which now, shocking

The reds around it,

Didn’t move with the wind.

Then I knew him,

But didn’t move or smile

Or call.

He was after all in hiding

And probably thought

By the stillness in which

He sat,

That nothing could see him.

I was not about to shatter

His illusions

Of camouflage.

I just hope that

Some other fauna,

Less charmed than this human,

Didn’t try to take a bite or nip

At the one leaf

That didn’t move

With the wind.