Paper birds

from the office window
take flight the paper birds
their pages of wings flutter
and shuffle through the breeze


up to the tallest branch
of the bending bundle of boughs
the paper birds soar and impale
themselves on the swaying hands


clutched and held so tight
the figuring of overdue debts
lap up the drops of night rains
and bleed onto the gold lawn below


ink stained tears into the mud
flows the words from 1948 year
when mom and pop shed their own
their tears now neither there nor here


and paper birds still roost there
weathered and plastered to their own
bleached and pure of words
the death and freedom of paper birds