SHE FLIES IN A NEW SKY

She trembled in her broken Chickadee body

The expanse of the grass an other worldly terrain

Alien to the blue and branch, nest of twigs in green

of the high above and mother’s wings in flight.

 

There was no more flight in this little bird

in her faulty flutter of wings and shiver

A trickle of blood from her beak with eyes closed

with a squawk to my touch and wings protest

 

Picking up her sweetness to tuck her close

to her tree where twigs and leaves, branch and night

might give protection to her final flutter.

In loving prayer for her safe flight home

 

I wondered of what to feed her, to protect her

to save her from this certainty, tearful.

Do I take her life quickly?  Do I leave her to

the nature of the journey? I leave her to tremble.

 

Morning rises to a mother’s winged explore

My heart rises in hope that night gave her back

to the living, to the wide sky, and branch, and

Spring leaves caught to wind and rain.

 

I gather her body in the nest of leaves

to give her sky back to the earth tucked

beneath the tangled bushes near my house

She flies a new sky today and I release my heart