We ignore, by conscious choice,

the ordinary drama around us

and never learn the life or death of it.

like the hawk perching on a branch

of a Long Needle Pine

high above the seed and suet holders

and the ceramic bird baths

I’ve just resupplied

on this cool but growing hotter

early summer morning.

Then, I sit on the bench

at the edge of the field

where the feeders and baths are.

I am tired from the work in the heat,

but the pleasure of watching birds and squirrels

coming, first cautiously, then, feeling safe,

the pecking and munching gluttony commences…

Until the shadow of that hunting hawk floats by.

All the prey scatter!

But the hungry hawk is not deterred.

His predatory inclinations are strong

and his stomach is empty.

He finds his perch and waits…

and waits….

Until my favorite little chickadee

lands on a twig

just to the right and a bit above

the impatient, waiting, hungry hawk

to present his case…

I hear his opening statement.

“Look”,

the little barrister chirps,

“You are hungry for the blood and flesh

of one of us,

bird or squirrel, makes no difference to you.

But we saw you flying high,

so we scattered into the bushes.

We can wait, hungry like you are,

but our lives depend on our patience…

So why should you just sit there on your perch,

salivating,

when just a little ways from here

there’s a little down,

full of chipmunks and voles,

plump, juicy and slow?

So, why don’t you just go

and leave us in peace?

(And here, we ought not to be shocked

at the chickadee’s malevolent offering.

In Nature, he who lasts, lives.)

And maybe the hawk wasn’t so hungry after all.

And, in his defense, maybe he just got a kick

out of the chickadees jurisprudence…

Anyway, he smirked at the little fellow,

faked a little stab at him, in a snit,

(the chickadee not flinching a bit!),

flexed his talons,

launched himself

and flew away,

passing right over my head,

so I heard him grumbling,

“Well, I’ll be back and they’ll be dead!”

And we know he will.

But for today,

anyway,

Mother’s little ones can eat,

safe from their more deadly siblings.

Yes, we all have family….

And Oh!

The drama of it all!