Can I Call You Liberty?

​
American Robin,
perched above our garage at noon
I have never felt so welcomed
Home as when I saw you there
Today, alive with stillness
Not concerned with winter
  or the greed of people
Visible in the air 

                  You breathed
as you began to sing.

I am not proud of much
   called American,
   but I am proud of you,
True to your name --
Flying when you must go,
Knowing earth and woods
   when you stay.

Thank you for honoring
 Red, White, and Blue
   this first day of cold,
   not frozen --
Sky with color,
   not January
Thank you for being there
      in the center,
   of my sight and of this day
Red-breasted and content
   to pause -- 

     without thought
   of losing your freedom
I witnessed, Joined
     without thought
   of wondering if

You called me
   to notice you there --
Just before you took flight.

Can I call you Liberty?

Your presence,
   a sigh of relief in my heart

Unfamiliar and certain

Even if it was only 

   a moment where 

I forgot to be sad,
I will carry your song,

  hold it for later forgetting --

the brief anticipation of
Spring's arrival.