birds in a bush

As I walked along a sidewalk this morning, just ahead of me one, then two, and three sparrows darted from a hedge and flew up into a tree. A few seconds later, four or five more followed. Then nearly a dozen. Their flight was as quick as a shadow appears and disappears. I wondered how many birds could lie in the hedge there. I visualized them in those narrow branches inside the hedge, leaves everywhere. Then, as I reached the opening that they had left from, I peered in and saw nothing. Not a bird. There was no evidence of their ever having been there. I walked on, the birds not even in the trees now. So that is how life goes, I thought. And that’s what it leaves. At least inside us.