Starlings now gather

Starlings 
now gather 
in clouds in their thousands

preparing to flee 
the cold weather 
  of Deutschland

where wet yellow leaves 
fly away 
 from the trees
if only to block the drains
in the streets 

 the streets where the fog 
comes and goes
and the incessant rain 
is windswept
and cold.

 Most of the white storks 
already flown south.

The last of the swallows 
away in September.

 The swallows 
as always 
the first ones to fly 

to 
that 
far destination. 

Today 
they dance under 
an African sky.