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Dark bird who comes only in nights shadow,
Who clings to the trees under the window
Sings mournful songs till dawn:
You remind me of all the things
I would rather forget, the times
That are no more. For what reasons
The lives and the times change,
I have never fully understood,
Just as I can't fathom why
You always choose this place,
These trees, and the same full moon
To sing of all the transformations;
The breezes fluffing your feathers
And the bright beams catching your eye.

If everything stayed always the same
You would still be perching here
A thousand years from today, but I know
That whenever you cease to come here anymore,
I know your feathers will have all blown away
Into the harvest of the winters storms,
Know that your bright eyes will have dimmed and gone out
Maybe the lame leg finally weakened;
And age worked its old game-
Another round, and one more familiar thing, vanished.
I know too, that another bird will come, in another spring
But it will never be exactly the same again
And I will be watching through different eyes too.

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