Listening Valentine

But then they tell me
their secrets sometimes

where they go to die
what causes it for them

which sounds like weeping

I’m too young to understand

though no child could be

as pathetically patient as

I am sitting there listening

for hours and sometimes

I put seeds out for them

each one bearing the name

of a different song I remember

some going back to the Vikings

war whoops and the coming

of the ends of things

so sparrows can sing

the fading notes of terror

only spring can bring