on the kansas prairie

on the Kansas prairie
  in a distant town
he is startling starlings 
  as the sun goes down

weary from his travels
  and not home yet,
larking after meadowlarks
  until the sun has set

chasing crows and cowbirds,
  wistful over wrens,
unflinching around finches
  as the daylight ends

pacing through plowed
  fields and fallow ground
grappling with grackles
  as the sun goes down 

Liz McFadzean