The bird tweets come
from somewhere
away from here
so faint and distant
barely audible
I lean in to hear them
the same way I lean in to
the far-off voice of God
straining to hear
yearning to feel…
…but the monkeys
always pull me back
swinging me about
like a baby elephant
clunk
clunk
clunk
bumbling clumsily
from branch to vine
and vine to branch
I am defenseless
and resentful
at the monkeys…
…why won’t they just let me
lean in
to hear the birds?