Grounded Observation

Lying is flying
With language for wings.
Wings didn’t evolve,
Necessarily,
Directly for flight—

Bright scales and feathers
Might serve for courtship,
Warning predators,
Even keeping warm
Before selection

Favored the values
Of lift, of gliding,
Of muscular flight.
All flight’s expensive—
Lives that don’t need it,

Lose it, but most keep
The wings. You see it,
Don’t you? If there weren’t
Opportunities,
Grounded predators,

Risks of starvation
Otherwise, no bird
Would labor to fly.
But when they do fly,
You envy their height.