Light.

van Gogh, Still life with a Plate of Onions, 1889

AT the KITCHEN TABLE

Not a flock of stories,

not usually,

but a few that arrive at dusk,

in pairs, quietly

creating themselves

in the feathery light.

And rarely with fancy plumage

of blue or green or red

but plain, as of clay or wood,

with a plain little song.

Theirs are the open wings

we light our table by.

Ted Kooser