Red and blue, flashing across and through the air,
arguing with the sky in voices clear,
loud and calling to the clouds, declaring
and defying the wind to catch them there
between the branches of the trees, sheer
and skiing, fleeing through shadows then flaring
into gold and green once more as sunlight
bounces off their silent wings.
Crowding through leaves that hide
like prisoners within their own darkness,
contradicting rainbows in their flight
of multi-feathered colour that sings
in strident voices, voices, voices that deride 
the sun and say its hues are less
than their own.

                                             1975