Diamond Firetail

Look on top of all the grasses
tiny lights, a flash that passes
faster then the eye can blink,
faster than the brain can think,
a living jewel, a tiny bird
now sits atop the grass he stirred;
black waistcoat with diamonds white
crimson beak and rump as bright!
On his own for just a second -
then the flock somehow has beckoned
out they fly and then close ranks
in the grasses, up the banks.

Soft their murmuring as they go
their small red tail lights briefly glow
then they disappear again
Diamond Firetails on the Plain.

 
by Judie Peet