singing red prayers

i've never met

a cardinal from

the vatican, but i met

the ones you sent

to minister from

the limbs of 

hop-hornbeams

i saw many

today

gliding just above the

snow, quickly through

the grey air

picking at the white

blanket of the earth

quietly asleep below

a young grey squirrel

leapt over a branch

and plumage unfurled

in front of me

as red as the flags

that flew over

the Paris Commune

in 1871

was it Olivier Messiaen

or St Francis

who called birds

God’s musicians

i must admit

you have some very

good musicians

i sometimes imagine

they are your prayers

flapping about

on earth

if so

you've also made

some beautiful prayers

i thought i heard

those cardinals singing

O Tannenbaum

the other day

or was it

The Red Flag?