I talked to this cardinal today
and he must have found me
mildly entertaining
because he talked back.
My son spotted him
perched way up high
in a backyard tree,
calling out in search of a friend.
I whistled back
in my best cardinal imitation
and, to our delight,
he responded.
My six-year-old looked at me
like I’d just performed
the greatest magic trick ever.
The cardinal and I
whistled back and forth
for a while,
until he realized
I was just a silly human
playing a silly game.
He flew away in a fit of red
as my awestruck son exclaimed,
“Wow, Mom, you can talk to birds!”
