Ledge

Birds that love
high trees
and winds
and riding
flailing branches
hate ledges
as gripless
and narrow,
so that a tail
is not just
no advantage
but ridiculous,
mashed vertical
against the wall.
You will have
seen the way
a bird who falls
on skimpy places
lifts into the air
again in seconds—
a gift denied
the rest of us
when our portion
isn't generous.

by Kay Ryan
from The Best of It
Grove Press, 2010
via 3QuarksDaily (ever-genius) 
Kay Ryan is the US Poet Laureate.