Fascinating to watch a small bird

Fly down the slope of a meadow

It pauses with wigs outstretched - middle of the air -

Then retracts its feathers fast,

Close to the body

Picks up speed in a dive

Its true weight revealed

In gravity’s jolt

Before it stretches to glide again.

This pause and sprint spaces itself

Out along the length of the hill

A mesmeric undulation

The ends at the top

Of a noisy tree.