Goldfinch Mates

by Holly Guran

For them I join my hands into a cup.
Their claws tickle my palms.
Color and punctuated flight
enter my circulating breath.
I wonder why the two chose to mate.
Was she drawn to his glorious yellow,
the black overlay of diamond cloak
with flecks of white?
Did she imitate his song, or
did he choose hers, or was there
a melding of notes from each?
Her color not as vivid, but a soft feathered
plump for the chicks she will nest.
They’ll leave and fly to the mint shrub’s purple
to pluck seeds with skillful beaks.
Emissaries of light, offering hope
in our shared abundance, precursors
of a world where each being has enough.

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Holly Guran is author of Now Before and Ever, Twilight Chorus, River of Bones and two chapbooks. Selections from narrative poems, based on a 19th century correspondence between a mill girl and the editor she married, have been performed in Boston and at the Lowell National Park. She was recently nominated for a pushcart prize. For more information and sample poems: https://jamaicapondpoets.com/about/#holly-guran