The Cardinal by Andrew Ray Williams

I was too late. 

And at this point, I am unsure  

if this feathered foe is toying or avoiding. 

After being called over, 

I looked through the spattered windowpane 

at the naked tree and then heard, 

“How did you miss him again?” 

Then I wonder: Does he prefer her?  

Or is it something with me? 

It’s pathetic, isn’t it? 

—writing to you, dearest reader,  

about this flushed, unacquainted squabbler?  

But my time will come. 

Not because he is approachable— 

that much is plain—but because, 

I have nothing more pressing to do, 

than to sit here, wait for him, and write to you. 

---

Andrew Ray Williams is a poet living in Pennsylvania, USA. His work has been featured at Ink, Sweat, and Tears, Red Eft Review, The BeZine Quarterly, among others.