Somewhere To Somewhere

Driving from somewhere to somewhere, I ran over a cardinal. Birds are crafty and usually get out of the way. but this one posed in the road hardly moving as I approached, Paralyzed by its stoic redness, I never slowed. Thought it would fly away. Like a thousand had done before but it didn't. I only slowed after the crash. In the rear-view mirror, I could see it tumbling. Like a blood drop rolling down the black mask of a gray-gray day.