Periodically we go to see the birds
in their natural habitat, which we know
is not natural for we have taken so much
of it for our own and left them what we
imagine their habitat should look like.
We assume the birds do not watch us
standing there gawking, trying not
to disturb them from what they are doing.
We do not consider that all of this time
the birds are studying us, wondering
about these strange, awkward creatures
anchored to the ground, their wings
gone missing, now featherless, unable
to taste the clouds, to feel the blue
of a sky that the creatures can only look up at.