Two Poems

Ornithomancy

take omens from the flight and cries of birds
(Wikipedia definition, 2020)

the low call meaning severed lovers meet
the trill that augurs daughters and not sons
the cry that says the ship is coming in

the numbers too:

five birds show concord
four mean food in plenty
a pair of doves confirms the flood is past

high in blue air
a single bird betokens peaceful death

but flight is more obscure     is hard to scry
the wheeling patterns shape a future scene

the flocks who trace new launchings of new ships
the V an arrow with a hidden target
the speed that warns a storm is coming quickly
...