The Boy and The Bird

A little boy watches, the tiny sparrow
Skipping from tree to tree
Jumpy and skittish as an untrained arrow
Eluding, and flitting awing

Patiently he waits, coaxing with care
Knowing he mustn’t stray
A target so precious and easy to scare
Performing a practiced ballet

Each day, the boy, insists upon
Seeing the little bird
Crooning words of love at dawn
His empty days quite cured

Gradually the sparrow allows the boy
To come closer and closer still
The little bird, no longer so coy
With a flip of her tail and a trill

Day in, and day out for months
Their greatest secrets are told
Laughing and joking at once
Their hearts begin to unfold

One day while they are together
Uneasiness comes about
The bird left behind a feather
When she went with a shadow called doubt

Soothing her qualms he calls to her
Begging the bird to stay near
Seeing what they are and what they were
She repents her misguided fear

As the bird returns to the boy
An evil deed stirs, in his heart
He grabs at her wing like a toy
Bent on breaking it apart

She nimbly skips to the side
For, prepared for this, is she
Insight and instinct are allied
And the boy falls short to his knee

As she flutters quickly away
A heat rises in her breast
For the sparrow, tis not been a day
Yet an arrow protrudes from her chest

Falling to earth, an injured dove
So hopeless and helpless are we
None easier in this world to love
And none more willingly freed