Birds Know
--Charles Simic 

There's a pond, a man said,
Far back in these woods,
Birds and deer know about
And slake their thirst there 

In a water so cold and clear,
It's like a brand-new mirror
No one had a chance to look at yet,
Save, perhaps, that little boy, 

Who went missing years ago,
And may've drowned in it,
Or left some trace of himself
Playing along its rocky edges. 

I better go and find out,
This very night, I said to myself,
With my mind running wild,
And the moon out there so bright.

An earlier version can be found at Verse Daily. This final version, as well as Illegible Scribble from the post prior, are available in Simic's 2017 publication, Scribbled in the Dark.