Look-see, a dead bird
prostrate on the grass,
it’s a chick; grey, pink, her
skin almost translucent.
Life didn’t last long, just fleeting, a featherless life.
She’s gone; cats had her
teeth in her maybe.
Possibly not – no discernible suffering…
Maybe she just spilled out of
the nest
or maybe she just didn’t
belong.
Anna :o]
Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Author: Tony Wills:
17 comments:
Oh... nature can be so cruel. Maybe just a misfit in the world of birds... the way you describe his skin is so sad.
Each life a jewel, a translucent pearl, only so much briefer, softer...this is full of the sorrow of the compassionate heart, one that bleeds easily, yet also sees things as part of a greater whole, full of maybes..exquisite, perfect in its smallness, like the gone bird. Thank you for adding this to the 55's this week, Anna.
Oh poor bird baby! Fell out of the nest too soon.
I always find it hard to deal with death in nature and it is such a natural thing...happening all the time...
soon, the ants. all of us will fall from the tree, some day ~
A featherless life is so tragic. But all part of nature's cycle, I suppose.
Yikes... interesting topic...I read it as a great metaphor.
ZQ
Attrition in the animal world can be quite disastrous for the weak and helpless!
Hank
Sad really. Whenever I see a dead animal, I have a pause. Today I saw a deer covered with snow. Didn't make it across the street. Always contemplate why. Like you did. In your poem.
I wonder what happened to the baby bird, did she fall out of the nest? So sad to think she didn't belong.
A thoughtful impactful piece. It is so true: life can go horribly wrong - even end. And so often, we are left to wonder and wonder and never really feel as though we've got it clear in our mind ... how this came to be.
As there is always "life," there is also "death." It is important that we learn from nature, everything that lives dies...and some other things die, too. Even though we are left with questions, acceptance is the key. No longer surprised by the ways of life and death. There are words from a poem, I always say, when I see death, "released, whole and unharmed, from the cage that held it bound."
At least someone noticed and recorded the unexpected death.
And the world moves on. I like the matter-of-fact tone in your words. It really makes it work.
Always such a sad sight. I guess that is the way of nature. Lovely poem, not too sentimental yet it is compassionate.
sad, but that's the cycle of nature.
"maybe she just didn’t belong." , that's such a strong line.
Sad speculations – then the last line takes it somewhere much further.
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