You never see that
not just one little bird
on the road
on its side

but two

their crumpled bodies
so still
they’ve been there
a while

I saw them up ahead
traffic was slow
I hoped they were paper bags
or a pair of socks
and I didn’t want to look
but of course
I do

and my grief
surprises me
because I’ve seen
animals dead
on the sides of roads
before

it’s that
I somehow know
they didn’t get hit together
but that he must have seen it happen
and yelled
in his sweet bird voice

get up
get up

and when she didn’t
was he scared
of the roaring cars
or did he dive down
to join her.