Mockingbird
sits on the wire
above my driveway
& sings.

The neighbor’s
black cat
crosses the road
en route to my yard.

The Mockingbird
swoops down
& buries her bill
in the cat’s neck.

The cat tucks
its tail & runs home,
the Mockingbird
in hot pursuit.

I know the eggs
have hatched
in the Hawthorne
by the lilies.

I walk to the tree
& see three
featherless heads
upright with beaks open.

The Mockingbird
scolds me from the wire
but does not attack.
She does not fear me.

She follows me
when I mow
& catches
insects.

Besides,
I let her harvest
mulberries, cherries,
& blue berries.

It may appear
to her that
I raise them
for her use only.

-Rudy Thomas