Town birds of New Zealand

For R.D.
 

in her dream
The Bridge of Sighs
Venice

and Florence
Ponte Vecchio
she remembers pipistrello

here instead are darting swallows
visitors blown across a wild ocean

memories of the night flicker
like the birds above the stream

ah the distractions of talking moths
white in the morning
and how the swallows swerve after them