Like fall leaves fluttering
in wind-tossed patterns,
their fingers flew fast,
eyes focused sharply
on total communication.

With kaleidoscope faces changing
from brooding brow to eager eye
from furrowed frown to grotesque grimace,
from tightened tooth to soothing smile,
together, they communicated.

Their hands were birds in flight:
humming birds, helicopter-hovering,
white, swift-flight carrier pigeons,
mountain blue birds building nests,
red-tailed hawks, soaring and diving,
graceful geese in victory formation,
always carefully communicating
with each other.

And I watched in fascination
with little understanding of their silent world
and only a glimpse of its beauty.

© by C. F. Kelly.
Used here with the author’s permission.