Whippoorwill you sang when I was a child while

Giant silk moths drummed

against the screen door,

you were hiding were you not on the forest floor

lightning bug magic caught in our jars,

on warm summer nights

with the sky filled with stars

being a million miles younger than I am now,

but it seems like yesterday and I wish somehow

to bring you all back

where did the whippoorwills go?

Poems have been written for this camouflage bird and songs have been sung for the Whippoorwill’s words ,

the moon and its cycle that dictates your love,

still fattens and fades in our galaxy above

but what of you now?

You’re a friend who’s gone missing, a sound I can’t hear, you were part of my family year after year then without notice

you disappeared

Come back my dear nightjar and serenade the full moon, come back old friend, and “whippoorwill” me your haunting tune.

©Tracy Platero