The Starlings

If there were no stars to say something of the coming weather,
No quarter moon to see by,
The starlings would not go south but shiver like water
In the tall trees, their eyes narrowed on the wind.

Refusing the fog and the rain against leaves,
They would climb the branches of the gray light
Until snow feel, and they fell, their feet raised
And showing through the white, twigs to grow a new year.




"The Starlings" from New and Selected Poems (Chronicle Books). Copyright ©1995 by Gary Soto. Reprinted with the permission of the author.