Oh do you have time

to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

 

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

 

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

 

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

 

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

 

excerpted from Invitation by Mary Oliver