Thunderbird

Every tradition has its birds
That stand for this, symbolize that—

The owl, the nightingale, the lark,
The turtle dove, the canary,

The hoopoe, jackdaw, raven, crane,
Also extinct birds, mythic birds,

The moas and the phoenixes—
A full catalogue would go on

For pages and be tedious.
Any bird known well locally

Ends up symbolizing something,
And every symbol gets its bird,

But sit anywhere where they are
Carrying on with being birds—

Do they need our symbolism?
No? Nor do our symbols need them.

They need their vocalizations,
And we need our symbolism,

But at the intersection of signs
And singing hums something menacing.