Love

I wrote a poem in semi-prose form. It is inspired by a poem called "Song" by Brigit Peegen Kelly. Although that poem inspires every poem I write.

It will most likely be revised a thousand times, but for now, enjoy

Love

When it flew in it perched itself on a picket fence.
Nobody saw it sitting there nibbling on a dead worm.
Until one fateful day. A little boy noticed the sparrow
One afternoon in the break of day by the railroad tracks.
He took the bird home and fed it.
The bird sang to him at night.
He sang a song that warmed the boy inside.
The boy kept the bird until it flew away.
A man in a suit was the next to find the bird.
This time he didn’t feed it. He didn’t nurture it.
He wanted to kill it because of the song.
The sweet song. But it sang to keep the peace.
It sang to call out to its own heart.
After the man chopped off its head.
The man was a rich man. He was rich
Like diamonds in caves. He was rich like a man
Able to buy a million singing sparrows.
He was in void of worry or regret while
The bird was half a bird. By the train tracks
The beating never stops. It shakes the ground.
While the song fills the air the heart crawls to the head.
The little boy wanted the bird back.
He searched for it in the night and the day.
He walked in circles to find the bird.
The boy missed its innocence. He cried when he
Saw what was left of the bird by the tracks.
The boy went home and thought about the sparrow
For years. He wondered why anyone would want to harm
A miracle. The sparrow was half a bird but it still Sang.
The song filled the air to the stinging sound
Of the freight train. The song sounds like a desperate
Man calling out to his dead child.

© VAW 09'