Co-Lying

Magpies are known to lie on the ground in groups.

It is a play behaviour called co-lying.

They interlock their feet

As they stare up at the sky from an angle they normally never see.

I wonder if they are pretending to be people,

A couple holding hands as they stare up at clouds

Unable to be deciphered into simple shapes.

They are abstract impressions,

Which lend themselves well to an hour-long discussion

About which part resembles a rabbit,

And which part resembles hope.

I wonder if by lying here,

As grass tickles skin through thin fabric on a summer afternoon,

Magpies watch and wonder if we are pretending to be them.