The wet-milling corn processing plant where I worked for many years received corn harvested from local farmer’s fields. A rich bounty of gleaned corn from the surrounding lot was available for the winter birds foraging to survive the cold. Yes, the sparrows could be a nuisance, but there was also something thrilling about watching them. They had mastered the knack of living symbiotically with the humans in their environment. It made me think about how God’s eye is on even these smallest of creatures, and how He reassures us all with His providence.
They throng around the lot
And swarm up to the warm
Steam pipes
And huddle there.
Kernels of corn
Pock the ground
And the sparrows
Chirp their treasure found.
Top-heavy on stilt legs
Staggering their gluttony
Barely fitting through
The diamond mesh-wire boundary.
On winter-nuded branches
They perch, like feathery fruit
On its black outlines
A darkly quivering tree of life.
Trudy Prins
