'A Winter Buffet' by Donal Mahoney

​A Winter Buffet
 
A bright winter day
and not a leaf left
on this skeleton
 
tree teeming
with sparrows
chirping and hopping
 
branch to branch
waiting for the feeder
to be free of cardinals
 
juncos and jays
bickering for seed
while on the ground
 
four doves
stroll in silence
feasting on spilled
 
seed near the tree
where a fat squirrel
sits with tail high
 
in a question mark
ready to dive
and scatter them all
 
Donal Mahoney