Caged in an ornate cabinet
artfully placed by human hand
a hundred brilliant birds
posed on a long-dead branch.
A breeze streams in from summer streets
heady scented, nectar-sweet.
Faint at first the humming wings,
the rapid tap of rapier beaks
shattering the fragile glass
the air alive with jewelled darts
rainbow slivers shimmer bright
dip and weave
through ancient bones
racing on toward the light.